


Battle For Blood

by mago_teung



Series: Haikyuu@Hogwarts [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti-Muggle Content, Awkward Dates, Awkwardness, Consensual Underage Sex, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Fights, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Happy Ending, Hogwarts, Homophobia, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Muggle Life, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Relationship(s), Romantic Fluff, Secret Relationship, Segregation, Sneaking Out, Students, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Love, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:28:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 50
Words: 343,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24986830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mago_teung/pseuds/mago_teung
Summary: "If my calculations are correct, I am 87.3257% sure that Bokuto is the one taking it up the ass.""You think there's a spell to give a dude a uterus?  I think that'd be hilarious to cast on one of these bastards.""I'd slay a dragon for you.  I'd slay a dragon regardless though, so...""At this rate I'm gonna die a virgin, which is depressing considering how hot my boyfriend is.""If Ushijima-san stared at you any harder you'd blast up in flames.""Get off my wand, you're sitting right on it!  Is it up your ass or something?  I said get off!""If Kageyama's IQ was at least the same number as his age maybe he'd be able to pass a class.""Read a book once in a while. .... Manga doesn't count!""If there was a potion to make you a girl maybe your boyfriend would actually fuck you.""Asahi, I know you're a Hufflepuff, but you can't just let people kick you like that all the time.""Shit, I just lost my textbook.  Guess I can't go to class anymore."A/N - Part 2 of some more chaotic Haikyuu boys at Hogwarts ^^ Lets go!!!
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: Haikyuu@Hogwarts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775155
Comments: 479
Kudos: 958





	1. Hinata's First Date

Date : July 10 1997

Time : 5:27 PM

Current Location : Central Cinema 

Mission : Get Hinata to have a successful first date with Kageyama.

"You really wanted to see this movie, huh?" Kageyama noted, looking up at the big movie theater, this being the first time he's ever been to the muggle world with other muggles like this. Hinata insisted that this had to be where their first date was though.

Summer vacation was perfect to go on dates. There were a lot of fun things open and all sorts of couples out and about on dates too so it wasn't awkward for them. It wasn't like they were allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts anyway, so being in the muggle world wasn't a bad idea. Being in the wizarding world would definitely take Kageyama's attention off of Hinata the whole time.

Hinata had it planned. He used the family computer to make a forum and ask people online what would be the perfect first date, and he was so ready to date the pants off of Kageyama.  
This was step one.

1) A movie - but don't make it too interesting for your date or else they won't pay attention to you. Movie theaters are the perfect place to get intimate.

"Yeah, I heard it's good," Hinata lied, getting ready to see the movie 'Anastasia', a movie he watched with his younger sister Natsu and found completely boring. First, it was in English and Kageyama had a hard time with subtitles. Second, it was a princess movie which Kageyama would find completely boring.   
It was perfect.

"You're fine with being here, right?" Hinata asked, trying to look considerate, but he knew Kageyama wouldn't complain too much because inside, Kageyama loved him dearly. He wouldn't outwardly say that the muggle world made him uncomfortable and try to get back to the wizarding world because that might hurt Hinata.   
Wasn't Kageyama so perfect?

"Yeah, I guess," Kageyama shrugged, the two of them in line waiting so they could buy their tickets. He actually had no idea how muggle currency worked, or much about muggle life in general, coming from a pure blood background.   
But this was Hinata's home. So he was willing to see it out to the end.

"What's the movie about again?" Kageyama asked, looking at the big poster, the characters were animated in a style Kageyama has only seen in foreign films which was already a bad sign. If he had to read subtitles then he might as well close his eyes the whole time because he'll be relying solely on sound to tell him what was going on. He could barely read Japanese properly at his own pace, what more the pace of subtitles.   
Plus, he didn't want to look stupid in front of Hinata. Sure, their grades were always the same, but on their first date he wanted to look manly and cool.

"A princess disguising herself," Hinata answered making Kageyama raise an eyebrow. It didn't sound like Hinata's type of movie, but Hinata insisted on it over and over again, saying it was perfect for their first date. He supposed if Hinata wanted to watch it, then there wasn't any harm. Even if it was boring, being with Hinata was all that mattered.

"Sold out?" Hinata gaped at the ticket master after they told Hinata that there were no matter tickets to see Anastasia. Which was _absurd_. Was it even that good of a movie? Hinata couldn't remember, he fell asleep when he watched it with Natsu.

"B-But it starts in 30 minutes! How is it sold out?" Hinata whined softly, the ticket master sighing loudly, probably used to conversations like this. He spoke through the holes of his box, looking straight at Hinata.

"Sorry kid, it happens. There's another showing tomorrow, so come back then. Now, unless you're gonna buy a ticket, step out of line. Other people are waiting to actually pay for a show."

Hinata wanted to scowl at him, but held it in, stepping out of line with Kageyama. They couldn't come back tomorrow! Their date was today, not tomorrow. They had to watch the movie today, sit in the back in the dark, Kageyama would get bored and put his arm around HInata, Hinata would pull the arm rest up and snuggle against Kageyama and maybe they would have a make out session even though Hinata knew nothing about making out. 

That was what the forum said at least.

"We can watch another movie," Kageyama suggested, taking a look at the different posters. There were quite a few movies out for the summer, so it wasn't a problem to choose one, but that wasn't Hinata's concern either.   
He didn't want an interesting movie. He wanted boring, sleep worthy content so Kageyama wouldn't be too invested in it.

"What about 'Princess Mononoke'?" Kageyama pointed at the poster of a badass chick with wolves. It already looked so interesting. And it was in Japanese so Kageyama didn't have to worry about reading subtitles. It actually looked like a good movie for the both of them, which wasn't what Hinata wanted. By his face, Kageyama was probably doing the math in his head, putting his hand down and looking at the posters again.

"If you don't want to watch it, just say so," Kageyama waved his hand at Hinata before looking at the posters again, trying to choose a movie. Hinata sighed loudly, shaking his head and pulling Kageyama back to the ticket box, the ticket master allowing them to cut since they were there first, and the people behind didn't seem to mind either. Kageyama's eyes widened but he followed, watching as Hinata took his wallet out.

"Two tickets to 'Princess Mononoke please," Hinata grumbled, giving the ticket master some bills. They were given two movie tickets, Hinata giving one to Kageyama and leading him inside the theatre.

"Oi, boke! If you don't wanna watch it, just tell me," Kageyama said, trying to look at Hinata's face but Hinata was trying his best to smile. This is a temporary setback after all. They had other parts of the date to look forward to.

As Hinata predicted, the movie was amazing. A strong female lead, wolves and just a little bit of romance so it didn't take away from the plot. Kageyama's eyes were glued on the screen the whole time that Hinata forgot - this was still Kageyama's first time being in a movie theater.

He thought Kageyama would complain about the cramped space, or the fact that the person in front of them was chewing too loud, or the fact that they ended sitting near the front so they had to look up at the screen and strain their necks, but he didn't say anything about it.

"That movie was awesome! Those spirits were so cool, booping around the place, and when the werewolves were running in the forest - I wonder how the animation was done. It was like magic!" Kageyama said enthusiastically that Hinata couldn't help but smile at him. Even though the attention wasn't on him, to see Kageyama that happy was enough for now.  
But he was about to get greedier real soon.

Kageyama did notice that Hinata was very distracted during the movie. His eyes were quite blank during the exciting parts, so he chose not to talk to him so Hinata could focus a little more on the movie.

"Did you not enjoy it?" Kageyama asked, making Hinata snap out of his thoughts, shaking his head quickly. "I-It's not that!" Hinata replied a little too quickly before laughing nervously. Hinata stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, not sure why but his body just did. Kageyama stopped with him.

"Then why do you look like that?"  
"Like what?"  
"Like...that!" Kageyama urged, motioning his hands at Hinata. "You're acting like I just yelled at you but I actually-" Kageyama coughed awkwardly, feeling himself blush and look away. Everything was feeling so natural that he completely forgot that saying sappy things was cringey and weird. Good thing his mouth subconsciously stopped him.

"I-I actually...liked it," Kageyama said slowly. "Sitting next to you and stuff...you know?"

Hinata's face lit up as Kageyama admitted he liked being in the movie theater despite not paying attention to Hinata. His blushing face was adorable to Hinata and the fact that he was able to make Kageyama like that, maybe seeing a good movie wasn't that bad.

"Kageyama!" Hinata laughed joyfully, taking Kageyama's hand and holding it, taking Kageyama by surprise completely, sputtering out jumbled words as his blush just darkened. "W-What are you-""Come on!" Hinata giggled, holding Kageyama's hand and leading him down the street. He had to remember, their date wasn't over just yet.  
He still had a chance to date the pants off of Kageyama.

2) Take a romantic walk in the park. Make sure your date loves the outdoors as much as you do or else your efforts will be for nothing.

Playing Quidditch outside was pretty outdoors-y, right? Kageyama didn't hate the outdoors to Hinata's knowledge. He didn't die when he was in the Forbidden Forest, so certainly he wasn't scared of it. Besides, it was just a park trail anyway. What's the worst thing that could happen?

"You have a sister?" Hinata asked in shock when Kageyama casually slipped in a story that involved his sister. This was the first time he was hearing about her.

"Yeah," Kageyama shrugged, not seeing how it was a big deal. "But she's 8 years older than me, so you won't see her. She's moved to Paris a long time ago." Hinata nodded slowly, a little sad that Kageyama hasn't told him sooner, but he guessed it couldn't be helped if she was that much older.

"She's a witch?" Kageyama nodded in response, not seeming to be uncomfortable with the topic of his sister. Were they close? Then how come he's never mentioned her before? "Yeah, she has a job as a historical journalist, so she travels around Europe all the time. It's not a big deal though, she visits during the holidays and stuff," Kageyama told him. Hinata felt weird, being able to ask Kageyama questions like this and not getting yelled at. But at the same time, it was nice. Him and Kageyama were actually getting to know each other.

"You two got along?" Hinata asked softly making Kageyama look over at him, not sure why he was shy all of a sudden. If Hinata was not something, it was shy. "Yeah, she's a good older sister," Kageyama shrugged, watching as Hinata nodded, not saying anything else.

"If..." Kageyama started off quietly, mumbling. Hinata looked up at him, his eyebrows knitted at him. "What did you say?" Kageyama coughed awkwardly, looking away quickly, not wanting Hinata to see him blushing again.   
Only Hinata could make him like this, Kageyama hoped he knew that.

"If," Kageyama said with a louder voice, but still wasn't looking at Hinata. "If you want to meet her, uh, at the end of the summer," Kageyama squeezed his fist, feeling the goosebumps on his arms. "You can come over and meet her."

Hinata's eyes widened when Kageyama offered to introduce Hinata to his sister, actually willing to let him meet her. Even though he didn't ask, Kageyama was the one who brought it up, which was quite an improvement.   
It meant Kageyama was reading Hinata much better and not relying on Hinata to tell him how he felt all the time.

"That would be so cool!" Hinata exclaimed excitedly, taking Kageyama's hand again as they walked, not wanting to let go again which seemed to be a bad habit of theirs. They were boyfriends now, there wasn't any shame in skinship. 

"You met Natsu-chan, so it's only right, don't you think?"

The park was quite peaceful, Kageyama was shocked Hinata wasn't jumping around by now. He seemed sort of mellowed down, it was a new look on him that Kageyama wasn't even sure suited him, but he supposed that maybe Hinata was only energetic in a school setting. They didn't see each other outside of school much anyway.

"Oh, look! Kageyama, a cat!" Hinata exclaimed excitedly, letting go of Kageyama's hand and running over to the bush where Hinata saw the cat, kneeling down to pet it. "It looks like a stray."

Kageyama joined him, crouching down beside Hinata and looking at the cute, chubby little orange cat, a little bit dirty but still adorable. Hinata was petting it without hesitation making Kageyama feel odd inside his heart, but he couldn't look away. The cat matched Hinata so much.

"Here! Try!" Hinata said excitedly, moving over to the side so Kageyama could have a turn. Even though he was reluctant, Kageyama moved over as well, reaching his hand out to pet the top of the cat's hand. Hinata watched in anticipation, wanting to see Kageyama interact with such a cute animal, but it seemed like the cat had a favourite between the two of them.

It happened fast as the cat launched itself on Kageyama, hissing loudly and clawing at Kageyama's neck, screeching in a weird feral way that made both Kageyama and Hinata scream.

"Oh my god!" Hinata tried grabbing the cat but it had it's claws digging into Kageyama's shirt, prancing on Kageyama's chest while Kageyama was trying to push it away as well. The cat was able to bite on Kageyama's wrist and it made some strangled meowing noises, attacking Kageyama when Kageyama finally got it off of his shirt. Hinata dropped the cat, luckily having it land on it's feet before helping Kageyama get away. 

"Shit!" Kageyama had scratches on his hands and arms, a small bite mark on his wrist and now the collar of his shirt was torn up. It was a nice shirt too.

"Oh...no..." Hinata winced when he looked over at Kageyama and saw the damage, some blood trickling down his hand. "The-There should be a pharmacy nearby! Wait," Hinata looked around the park, noticing a convenience store just across the street.  
He would be wasting date money, but this was obviously more important.

"Wait here!" Hinata used his hands to emphasize his point to Kageyama before running off the convenience store to get some bandages and whatever else someone needed to get in order to get cuts healed.  
Were bandages always this expensive? Was he supposed to get rubbing alcohol or Lysol? What was the difference? He ended getting the cheapest one, making sure that he had whatever his mom used when he had a cut, running back to Kageyama who was sitting on the bench, waiting for Hinata calmly.

"Don't worry, Kageyama! I'll heal you!""Boke!" Kageyama screamed at him as Hinata sat down, ripping the band-aids out of it's package with his teeth. "You're too loud!""Because I'm freaking out!" Kageyama was losing more blood as Hinata kept talking. He opened the bottle of rubbing alcohol (which was significantly cheaper than anything else that damned convenience store had) and was pouring it on Kageyama's cut.

Kageyama didn't hesitate to scream.

"Ow! What the hell is that, dumbass!""Just trust me!" Hinata yelled at Kageyama, but Hinata wasn't even sure he trusted himself. He hissed when he realized he needed something to actually wipe the alcohol away with. Quickly thinking (though it wasn't that efficient) Hinata used his own shirt to dab at Kageyama's cuts making Kageyama flinch, but he didn't move his hand.

"Fuck! That fucking hurts!""Stop screaming at me, I'm helping you!" Hinata started to put bandages on Kageyama and though they were messy and probably wouldn't stay on for too long, it was covering up the bleeding. 

Kageyama was biting his lip hard the whole time, both his hands and wrists numbing, he could feel his arms starting to lose a lot of feeling as well. He didn't know what to do without magic to help heal these cuts, he would have to ask his mom when he got home.   
It didn't matter if Hinata wsa the one who put the bandages on. Everything still fucking hurt.

"Sorry, Kageyama," Hinata mumbled, putting away the bandages into his pocket just in case Kageyama needed them later too. "I told you to pet the cat."

Looking at Hinata's fallen face, Kageyama just sighed, petting Hinata's hair and shaking his head. Hinata's hair was fluffy, like cotton candy. He wondered if Hinata knew that too.

"Boke. Don't worry about it," Kageyama stood up, Hinata looking up at him with wide eyes, standing up too. His determined face was back on making Kageyama feel a little more at ease. Hinata as himself was the best Hinata, in his opinion.

"Where to next?"

3) A nice dinner to end off the night. The number one way to man's heart is through his stomach. Make sure you make a good impression while eating, and good luck!

A nice, fancy dinner. Like in the movies! Hinata so got this, his mom watched romance movies all the time. He would put the napkin on his lap and he knew that the tiny spoon was for dessert.   
He would impress Kageyama so much and date the pants off him.

"Another line," Kageyama commented, and even though it probably wasn't supposed to be offensive, Hinata's eye twitched. The line was long, longer than at the movie theater. If he eavesdropped over the conversation of the other couples then Hinata quickly learned that they had to wait another hour before they could get a spot.

"We can eat somewhere else," Hinata mumbled, looking up at Kageyama. "It doesn't have to be here." Kageyama sighed, shaking his head and looking ahead at the line. "Idiot, you wanted to eat here, didn't you?" Hinata's eyes widened, shining up at Kageyama as Kagayama shrugged so nonchalantly. "Then we'll eat here. It's not a big deal."

Kageyama was so cool!

Even though the line was long and there were much older, cooler couples than them that actually looked like they knew what they were doing, Hinata didn't take it as discouragement and instead just focused on the fact that him and Kageyama were here together. Kageyama stepped out of his world to join Hinata among the muggles, which was a big deal. Even if they had a bit of a set back with the movie, and Kageyama was coming out with battle scars, this was still their first date. 

"Look," a group of girls whispered, giggling as they looked over at Kageyama, who was standing quite coolly with his hands on his pockets, his regular stoic face staring at the ground. He wasn't even doing anything and Kageyama looked cool.

"Should I ask for his number?"  
"Yeah, he looks like he's just with a friend. Go for it!"

Hinata's face turned red, not liking the whispering he was hearing beside them. Sure, Kageyama got a lot of confessions at school, and yeah, Kageyama was so cool and nonchalant about things.   
But at least at Hogwarts the girls knew him for more than how he looked. These girls were just admiring Kageyama from afar and they already wanted to make a move. Not on Hinata's watch though!

"Baby," Hinata cringed inwardly as the unfamiliar word slipped from his mouth. He said it loud enough that maybe the 10 closest people in the line heard him, including the girls checking out Kageyama. But the pet name was working getting the girls attention, staring at the pair in shock.  
Kageyama was equally shocked.

"Baby, I'm getting hungry-""What the fuck?" Kageyama scowled at Hinata, looking down at him with a slightly disgusted face. "What are you saying?" So calling Kageyama such an endearing term obviously took him by surprise, but Hinata wasn't expecting _that_ sort of reaction.

"I-I'm saying I'm hungry!" Hinata replied loudly, trying to hide his embarrassment from being called out on the pet name. He just didn't want girls gawking at Kageyama this much, Kageyama didn't have to yell at him so loud in public. It was just adding to Hinata's rage.

"Then say you're hungry! Not anything weird," Kageyama grimaced at Hinata, which Hinata appreciate too much.

Sure, 'baby' wasn't usually what they called each other, but Kageyama didn't have to be so rude about it. What if Hinata actually wanted to start calling him baby? What would Kageyama do then?

"How much longer?" Kageyama mumbled, trying to look at the front of the line. It was like they didn't even move, but they both guessed that there were a lot of couples that wanted to go on a date here. That meant it was a good place, right?

"Hinata, is 90,00¥ a lot?" 

Hinata's eyes widened, pressing his face against the glass of the restaurant. It's been 40 minutes and now they could see the front door of the restaurant, meaning they could also see through the windows, all the people eating and people enjoying a nice dinner in the restaurant. 

Kageyama pointed out that they could also see the menu, telling Hinata it would be faster if they choose what they wanted to eat so they could order right away. They now could also see the price.

"90,00¥...." Hinata had 30,00¥. He used some of his money on the movie, then buying Kageyama some bandages made him lose a few bills too. But in all honesty, he only had 50,00¥ to start with at the beginning of the date. He didn't think a restaurant was this expensive. Now he could understand why his mom would always say 'we have food at home'.

"Uh," Hinata stammered softly, looking at the prices and how they only increased as he went down the menu. The meals didn't even look that good, just a flimsy piece of steak and asparagus. Why was a glass of orange juice 750¥? It was unnecessarily expensive that Hinata was starting to sweat.

"Hinata?" Kageyama watched as Hinata's mind was turning, whimpering softly as he was trying to think of how he was supposed to use his last 3 bills to feed both him and Kageyama. They could go to a fast food restaurant, but that wasn't very date-y. He could take Kageyama home? No! The thought was making his cheeks and neck turn red, Kageyama meeting his parents and seeing Natsu again.

But he had to do something. Their place in line was getting closer to the front and Hinata had to take into consideration that he couldn't afford a meal for the both of them. This was clearly a more adult restaurant.

"Maybe..." Hinata hesitated, looking around to see if there was a nicer, cheaper restaurant. He was chattering his teeth as he was trying to find some place that would be suitable for a date in the street they were in.

"For 2?" The host of the restaurant asked, looking at both Kageyama and Hinata, waiting for them to give a name so they could save a spot. Kageyama looked over at Hinata, waiting for him to say something since he wasn't sure how to respond, but Hinata was still panicking, chewing on his bottom lip. He couldn't go in and not afford anything, but he couldn't let this date end like this.

"Uhm, sorry, uh, we'll come back after!" Hinata quickly grabbed Kageyama's hand, taking him out of the line which made Kageyama surprised, but he followed anyway, unsure what else to do. It seemed like Hinata didn't want to eat there anymore.

"I'm sorry we ended up here," Hinata sulked, the two sitting in front of each other at a McDonald's that was quite close to the restaurant. They ordered a regular burger and fries with some soft drinks, and even though Kageyama told him over and over again that it wasn't a big deal. He didn't even know what to expect from the different restaurants anyway, so he didn't have any expectations to begin with.

"It's fine," Kageyama took another bite out of his burger. Between them Hinata bought 10 burgers and two large fries. Unsurprisingly, they were able to finish everything while sharing a coke. "It's good here. I like these things," Kageyama said, motioning to his burger and taking another big bite, reassuring Hinata that he didn't mind being in a fast food restaurant.

This was still a date though. Even though it was a temporary set back, Hinata still wanted to do romantic things between them. They've held hands so far, and Hinata has grabbed his arm - it was like this wasn't a date. This is what Hinata did with his friends, now that he thought about it.

So, his romantic-movie-influence mind put his straw into Kageyama's coke so that the two straws were sticking out. Kageyama didn't seem to notice, focusing a little too much on his burger, but Hinata didn't mind.  
Now all he had to do was wait for Kageyama to take a sip.

"Here," Hinata held a french fry to Kageyama's mouth, grinning at him. "Say 'ah'-""What the hell are you doing?" Kageyama narrowed his eyes at Hinata, flinching his face away. "I can feed myself, you know?"

Hinata's eye twitched, not wanting this to sour his mood, but did Kageyama not know that he was supposed to cutely eat it the things Hinata fed him? Then feed HInata back. "Ju-Just eat it!""Why? I have hands."

Hinata gritted his teeth as he watched Kageyama take his own fries with his own hands and eating them without even glancing at Hinata. This was supposed to be a date, yet this didn't feel romantic at all at the same time.

"Eat it!" Hinata yelled, shoving more fries into Kageyama's face making Kageyama jump back in his seat. Everyone else in the McDonald's looked over at them, wondering what was happening, but quickly went back to their own business when they realized it was just two teenage boys acting up.

"What-What the hell's your problem?" Kageyama yelled back, smacking Hinata's hand down so he dropped the fries, his chair sliding back as he stood up. "You don't have to feed me, you know? I can do it myself!" Hinata glared at him, crossing his arms and looking away. "Whatever," Hinata muttered, and if Kageyama heard him he pretended he didn't.

Kageyama sat back down, watching Hinata's face and trying to figure out what was wrong, but Hinata was acting moody all night. Was this because they were here instead of that big restaurant? It wasn't that big of a deal.  
Kageyama leaned down to take a sip of his drink, noticing too late that there were two straws instead of one. In the last second, Hinata leaned in too, opening his mouth to use the other straw, but it went too fast so their faces smacked together, hitting Kageyama right in the nose and Hinata in the forehead.

"Ah!"  
"Ow!"

Kageyama hissed, holding his nose, feeling the ache start right away while Hinata was holding his forehead, whimpering. Kageyama could see Hinata's forehead turning red too as he rubbed the spot Kageyama hit.

"What the hell? Why did you do that?" Kageyama hit Hinata on the head for good measure, out of habit really, making Hinata flinch and now rubbing two sore spots. "Why the fuck would you put your straw in _my_ coke? You have your own drink!"

Kageyama really thought that Hinata would yell at him back and they would start arguing like usual. It seemed that this whole date was similar to them just hanging out at Hogwarts and fighting about every little thing with the occasional silence between them.   
But that wasn't a bad thing, was it? He didn't mind it when Hinata fought back, it reminded him that Hinata and him were on the same level, no one was better than the other necessarily, and only Hinata could fight with Kageyama all the time but at the same time follow him around and show him so much love.

So why was Hinata crying?

"O-Oi," Kageyama's eyes widened as he saw Hinata's shoulders shaking and sniffling. Hinata wasn't looking up, shaking his head and pushing Kageyama away. "Why are you cry-""I'm not crying!" Hinata yelled, snapping his head up, tears running down his cheeks. Kageyama flinched, looking around to see people staring at them, but Kageyama wasn't sure what to do. He's never made Hinata cry like this, especially not in public. It was freaking Kageyama out.

"Wai-Wait! Wait, stop crying!" Kageyama gritted his teeth, starting to pack up their food and taking Hinata's hand, forcing him to stand up and get out of the McDonald's. He didn't appreciate the eyes that were following them as they left.

"Stop crying already."  
"I-I said. I'm not crying!"

They were outside the McDonald's, Hinata squatting on the ground, covering his face as Kageyama stood beside him. Hinata has been sobbing for the last 10 minutes and Kageyama tried to comfort him, but it seemed that no matter what he said Hinata just cried harder. Kageyama sighed loudly, looking down to check on Hinata again, and thankfully his crying was slowing down, but he was still crying.

"Come on," Kageyama groaned softly. "It's not a big deal, I didn't hit you that hard.""It's not that!" Hinata cried out, looking up at Kageyama. His eyes and the tip of his nose was red and the tears stained his cheeks. Kageyama clenched his jaw, not liking how this date was going anymore. He preferred them fighting over this, that was for sure.

"Thi-This was supposed to be a romantic first date," Hinata mumbled, hiding his face in his arms again. "But everything went wrong. Even after everything I researched, it was terrible. Maybe I'm not cut out for this dating stuff after all."

Kageyama sighed, looking around the street, trying to think of how to make it up to Hinata. He had to admit, he wasn't sure what to expect from their first date either, and he certainly didn't expect to get attacked by a cat or fight Hinata in a fast food restaurant, but if it was with Hinata then he didn't mind it too much. If it was with Hinata, then Kageyama didn't care. It was actually really fun!

"Look at me," Kageyama said, squatting down next to Hinata. After a few seconds, Hinata looked up at Kageyama, pouting at him, probably wondering what Kageyama but Kageyama made it too quick.

A small peck on the lips, very fast, their lips grazing on top of each other. Hinata gasped loudly, jumping back being taken by surprise. He touched his fingers to his lips, his heart beating faster when he realized what just happened.

"Wh-What-""It's late. I have to get home," Kageyama coughed, standing up quickly. He put a hand in his pocket, fishing around before taking something and shoving it into Hinata's lap, not looking at him properly.

"Happy belated birthday, boke. I, uh, I had a lot of fun on this date."

Kageyama turned around, sprinting in a random direction before Hinata was able to stop him. Hinata shot up, wanting to call after Kageyama, but he was already lost in the distance.   
He looked down at the gift Kageyama gave him, biting his lip as he started unwrapping it. He felt his body stiffen up, his face flushing as he looked down at the small box with a black and orange wristwatch, simple and sleek and very, very muggle so Hinata could wear it over the summer as well. There was even a small note in the box that Hinata read right away.

_Boke,_

_Let's spend a lot of birthdays together from now on._

_Tobio_

"Stupid," Hinata squealed, having to cover his mouth and squeeze his fists together, trying his best not to scream in public. He really wished that Kageyama was here so Hinata could give him a big hug and kiss. It wasn't fair that Kageyama gave him this gift two weeks late and wasn't even there to see Hinata's reaction. Kageyama should've been there so they could end on a good note together.

"I had fun too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Book 2!!! I'm so excited, I hope people will enjoy the plot of the second story. Please expect a lot from me and I hope you'll have fun reading it as much as I have fun writing it.  
> Lots of love <3 <3 <3  
> Everyone stay safe ~
> 
> ->.<


	2. Tsukishima's Father

Date : July 19 1997

Time : 9:34 AM

Current Location : Tsukishima Kei's bedroom

Mission : Make sure Tsukishima's dad does _not_ find out his son likes shoving his tongue down another boy's throat.

"Mm, Tsuki," Yamaguchi moaned against Tsukishima's mouth, humming softly as Tsukishima's tongue grazed on top of his, his hands wandering around Yamaguchi's body as they made out on Tsukishima's bed.

Currently, Yamaguchi was on Tsukishima, his legs straddling Tsukishima's waist and his hands cupping his jaw, tilting Tsukishima's head up as he forced his tongue inside Tsukishima's mouth. This was probably their 100th attempt at making out and each time, Tsukishima noticed, it was much more enjoyable. They've improved a lot since their first kiss in the Forbidden Forest, that was for sure, and one thing that improved significantly was Yamaguchi's initiating side.   
Tsukishima honestly was expecting Yamaguchi to take more control eventual, considering how long Yamaguchi had been waiting for an opportunity like this, so he was happy when Yamaguchi started going in first for a kiss and starting their make out sessions lately. 

Plus, Yamaguchi was getting hotter by the day, so that definitely added to the tension.

"Yamaguchi," Tsukishima whispered back, pulling away so he could move his lips from Yamaguchi's to his neck, licking up to his jaw making Yamaguchi shiver. He had definitely learned a lot of Yamamguchi's weaker spots throughout the months, which was obviously a good sign. Yamaguchi was still figuring Tsukishima's.

"Wai-Wait-" Tsukishima did not wait, kissing down to Yamaguchi's collarbone, kissing him softly and licking back up to his neck before kissing his jaw again, chuckling softly when Yamaguchi whined. Watching him wither in his arms, Tsukishima having so much power over Yamaguchi like this, it was definitely much more worth it when he thought about just how wrapped around Tsukishima's finger Yamaguchi was.

Did Yamaguchi know that Tsukishima was equally as weak?

"You-You're being-""Unfair?" Tsukishima finished the sentence, looking up at Yamaguchi with a raised eyebrow, kissing up Yamamguchi's jaw and going to his lips again, forcing Yamaguchi's mouth open. Yamaguchi's protests were swallowed up, losing themselves in the second kiss that Tsukishima initiated, humming softly against each other. If this was how Tsukishima was going to spend his summer, then he had no complaints really.

"Tsu-Tsuki-"

Any healthy male's natural reaction was to get hard, right? And Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were both healthy males. So Yamaguchi's hard-on pressed against Tsukishima's wasn't anything weird, right? It was natural, expected. 

It obviously embarrassed Yamaguchi though.

"I-I'm sorry, Tsuki. It just happened," Yamaguchi's neck was red, Tsukishima couldn't help but kiss every inch that was blushing, inwardly proud that he was the cause of it. Of course, Tsukishima knew Yamaguchi would act like this, but to see it happening was a whole different story.

"Sh, it's fine," Tsukishima reassured him, petting Yamaguchi's hair and kissing his temple. "But don't think I'll let you off so easily."

"Kei."

Tsukishima quickly pushed Yamaguchi off of him, Yamaguchi landing on the floor with a loud thud and an 'oof' as Tsukishima's dad entered the room. He was in a business suit with a briefcase, raising an eyebrow when he saw Yamaguchi on the floor.

"Uh, I'm off to work..." Tsukishima's dad said slowly, Tsukishima' sighing softly and nodding, waving his hand. "Okay, have a good day at work." 'And knock next time,' he wanted to add but bit his tongue, already knowing how that conversation would end. 'Why? This is my house.''Yeah dad, I know.''Don't say 'yeah' to your father, that's disrespectful.''I apologize father, now please close the door on your way out.'

"Say, you guys wanna join me at work today?" Tsukishima's dad suddenly asked, a little more upbeat than usual, looking between both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, not commenting on the fact that Yamaguchi dropped on the ground just a few seconds ago. Maybe he was choosing to ignore it or something, but Tsukishima was grateful there was no follow up questions.

"Join you at work?""Yes, Tadashi-kun. Didn't Kei tell you?"

Tsukishima did not tell Yamaguchi because he did not want to join his dad at work. He didn't want to spend a whole day with his dad, trying to hold in the fact that him and Yamaguchi were now more than friends, especially knowing Yamaguchi wasn't exactly shameful about their relationship.  
Tsukishima wasn't ashamed either! No really, it was just the issue with his dad and everything. Tsukishima didn't want to hide Yamaguchi or anything! Really.

"Well, at my work place they're doing a bit of an exhibit for magical creatures. More like a santuary, I should say. There'll be all sorts of creatures we're fighting for to make sure they don't get hunted or caught by muggles. It'll be interesting, and you boys are gonna be in your 4th year this year. It doesn't hurt to be a bit ahead, don't you think?"

Tsukishima's parents worked for the Ministry of Magic Law Department along with Yamaguchi's, and their current project was defending magical creatures to make sure no one was harming them. This included various amounts beasts of many breeds, not limiting themselves to more tame anials. It sounded cool, sure, but Tsukishima would rather spend the day with Yamaguchi instead of staring at nearly extinct animals.

"Tadashi-kun, does that sound interesting to you?" Yamaguchi's eyes went wide because it _did_. He was very interested in animals, magical or not, and he very much would like to see them and learn more about what the ministry was doing to help protect them.

But Yamaguchi was loyal, looking up at Tsukishima to see what he wanted to do. Tsukishima looked back at him, seeing Yamaguchi's eyes widening, pleading him silently to give it a try, even if it did end up boring. From their experience during the school year, Yamaguchi was quite good with animals, wasn't he? And if Yamaguchi found joy in going to an exhibit focused solely on these magical creatures, then Tsukishima didn't want to stop him either.

They just couldn't be too suspicious.

"Fine," Tsukishima grumbled, his dad clapping, nodding his head. "Alright boys, I'll wait for you downstairs then. Can't wait to show you the different works we've been doing."

When Tsukishima's dad left, Yamaguchi stood up, heading over to the bed again where Tsukishima wasn't looking at him, stepping off and heading to his closet to get a something else to wear. Yamaguchi looked hesitant, wanting to say something, but Tsukishima already beat him to it.

"Remember, my dad doesn't know about us yet," Tsukishima reminded Yamaguchi, throwing Yamaguchi a Slytherin jersey that was obviously too big for Yamaguchi. "This is-""Wear it." Tsukishima demanded, Yamaguchi slightly confused but he nodded quickly, taking his shirt off and putting on the Slytherin jersey on, not being able to smell anything but Tsukishima's soap.

"Uh, Tsuki? Are you mad at me?"

Tsukishima bit his tongue, not wanting to rant about how Yamaguchi literally just threw away a whole opportunity for them to have the house to themselves, no parents or school work keeping them distracted. But when Yamaguchi looked at him so innocently, scared for his response, he just sighed, shaking his head.

"No, not really," Tsukishima reassured him, kissing Yamaguchi's forehead. "Just don't make it too obvious, okay? I'll tell my dad on my own time." He didn't give Yamaguchi enough time to respond as he past by him, going out the door and downstairs where his dad was waiting for them at the front. Yamaguchi trailed behind him a few seconds later, wearing the Slytherin jersey that was just a little too loose, showing off his collarbones and half his shoulder. Tsukishima's dad raised an eyebrow at Yamaguchi, then at his son.

"To make sure they know we're students," Tsukishima lied, putting his shoes on, Yamaguchi copying him. 

This definitely was going to be a long day.

"A lot more creatures every day are being discovered by muggles. It's actually getting quite scary," Tsukishima's dad explained to them. The three of them made it to the Ministry of Magic building, a huge place with all sorts of department sections, different ways entry including through a phone booth or with Floo powder. Tsukishima's dad's department was closer to the top floor, but since they were going to look into the different creatures they ended up in a wide, open outside dome like area that was closed off, but big enough to hold all sorts of magical beings, including dragons and phoenixes. 

Yamaguchi looked like he was in a petting zoo, awing at every single creature, containing his urge to run around and talk to all of them. His excited face made Tsukishima smile a bit, having to cover his mouth with his hand when he saw his dad looking at him.   
Tsukishima couldn't be the obvious one between them.

"This is a Hippogriff. You learned about them at school, didn't you boys?" They were standing right in front of a giant, adult Hippogriff, an animal with a body of a horse, a head of an eagle with talons. It was at least 10 feet tall and looked like it was ready to fly around any minute. Except for the fact that it was chained down, a metal brace around it's neck keeping it still.

"He doesn't look hurt, but apparently a few muggles saw him flying around and shot him down. If you look at his leg, he's got an arrow deep in him. Struck a wrong nerve, so it's hard to just pull it out." If they looked, they did see the arrow in the Hippogriff's leg, it was just so big compared to the arrow that you could barely see it. "He's tried to fly around several times, but we're pretty sure the hit has affected his whole lower half so when he lands it's dangerous. We've been keeping him down ever since."

Muggle objects tended not to be a huge deal versus magical objects, especially a weapon. But as muggles discovered more and more about the magical world, it was obvious they were becoming more innovative.  
The gun, for example. It could kill in a second. Once you're dead, you're dead. Even regular magic couldn't bring you back to life so easily. So now that muggles were advancing, magic had to find it's way to keep up. It seemed the material of the arrow was the real poison to the Hippogriff though.

"Try saying hi," Tsukishima's dad encouraged them, but Tsukishima took a step back quickly, not wanting anything to do with the 10 foot murderer. He didn't want to get stepped on, and like a unicorn, the Hippogriff also evaluated you before you were allowed to touch it. He didn't want another reminder that he wasn't exactly the best person on planet earth.

"I'll try," Yamaguchi volunteered bravely, Tsukishima's dad grinning at him and opening the pen up, letting Yamaguchi in. Yamaguchi shook as he stepped in, but Tsukishima's dad pushed him lightly, telling him it was okay.  
"Remember, don't be scared of it, alright? The only way it could really harm you is if you insult it. Just be your regular self, Tadashi-kun."

Tsukishima nodded without meaning to as he thought about the 'regular Tadashi'. Sweet, pure, gentle, kind. Maybe everything Tsukishima was not. That's why Yamaguchi was so good with animals like this since he didn't need to talk to them.  
Before Yamaguchi opens his mouth, everyone has already judged him, Tsukishima knew this. And though it wasn't fair, sometimes he preferred that compared to if they gave Yamaguchi a chance to show how strong he actually was. It was easier to keep Yamaguchi to himself this way, and no one else could know just how truly amazing Yamaguchi was.

"You're magnificent, aren't you? Such a majestic fellow," Yamaguchi cooed at the Hippogriff, stepping closer and closer to it, reaching his hand out. When he got close enough, Yamaguchi started bowing, waiting for the Hippogriff to judge him. When the Hippogriff spread it's wings out, Yamaguchi did flinch, but he didn't run away. He held himself steady, proving to the Hippogriff he could handle it. 

The Hippogriff bowed back.

"Nicely done, Tadashi-kun! See, Kei. You can do it too." Tsukishima pushed his glasses up as he watched Yamaguchi go up to the Hippogriff, giggling as he petted it's head, the big bird-like creature leaning down, nuzzling into Yamaguchi's touch. Yamaguchi smiled widely, looking back at Tsukishima and waving to him, showing himself and the Hippogriff getting along.

Tsukishima had to look away again, not being able to take the whole scene in so easily. Yamaguchi with such a scary animal like that, taming it so easily and playing with it like a pet - he didn't know whether to be terrified or fall in love.

"The Hippogriffs have been wandering," Tsukishima's dad explained with a sigh. "We thought we should've closed the doors between the muggle world and the wizarding world, but that wasn't the case. Apparently it's the muggle hunters that have been opening their doors, not us. It would've been easier to handle if a regular wizard shot him, but a muggle? If we had more people like Tadashi-kun taming these big creatures though, maybe things would run a lot smoother."

Tsukishima looked back over at Yamaguchi who was scratching under the chin of the Hippogriff, laughing loudly as the Hippogriff shook, making the whole ground shake with it. 

If a lot more people were like Yamaguchi in general, maybe the whole world would run a lot smoother.

"Everyone wants a dragon nowadays, especially since a bunch of reporter muggles have discovered their existence by accident. We tried to capture and obliviate all of them, but the ministry said they're going to attempt a more ethical and peaceful approach," Tsukishima's dad sighed, like he was disappointed in such a decision. "What these muggles don't get is that dragons are supposed to be free creatures, not just pets they can keep in a cage. So we're raising them for now then sending them to Romania once they reach about 5 years old. They'll be able to fly on their own by then."

Yamaguchi gasped when he saw little baby dragons, having their own section where they could run around with each other, sort of resembling a dog park. There were 3 baby dragons, blowing small balls of fire at the toys placed inside of the playpen-like area. Once something was on fire water would spurt out of nowhere, putting the fire out right away so that they could blow even more fire.

"They're so cute!" Yamaguchi gushed, leaning forward in the pen, Tsukishima's eyes widening when Yamaguchi was leaning a little too far in. He stood behind Yamaguchi, in case he fell so that he'd be able to catch him.

"We already lost one," Tsukishima's dad said sadly, taking out a few slabs of meat and throwing it into the pen, all 3 dragons fighting over it right away, pushing at each other and tugging at the meat. "A muggle took him. Just a baby, but he took him. We tried getting him back, but apparently the dragon didn't have good living conditions and - ah, well. You can guess the rest."

All of a sudden the mood turned solemn when Tsukishima and Yamaguchi could fill in the blank, thinking about how muggles were really taking advantage of all these magical creatures without knowing.  
Or worse, they did know exactly what they were doing, and harming all of these creatures on purpose.

Yamaguchi reached his hand down, waiting for a dragon to come to him. It didn't take long before a yellow scaled dragon came onto Yamaguchi's hand, it's tail a bright sliver having gradient with the yellow. The wings were still small, and if it opened it's mouth there were little sharp teeth pointing out. It's small body curled up in Yamaguchi's hand, mewling softly, Yamaguchi got up and showed Tsukishima, laughing as he watched the dragon closing it's eyes, getting comfortable.

"Does he have a name?" Yamaguchi asked, looking at Tsukishima's dad, but he just shrugged. "Not yet. Why don't you name it, Tadashi-kun?" Yamaguchi gasped excitedly, eager to have the honor of naming one of the dragons.

Yamaguchi looked at the dragon, noticing it's colour scheme - yellow and silver. He looked up at Tsukishima who was watching Yamaguchi closely, but quickly looked away when they made eye contact. He looked back at the dragon, then at Tsukishima again, the at the dragon.

"What about Yue?"

Tsukishima was shocked at the name, half expecting 'Tsuki', but this name was even more heartwarming. Tsukishima's heart started beating in an irregular pace, coughing awkwardly and staring intensely at the other dragons, trying his best not to make it obvious he was flustered.

"Ah, because it looks like the colour of the moon, right?" Tsukishima's dad chuckled with a nod, seeming to not catch Yamaguchi's little thoughtful pun. Tsukishima was grateful though, because he didn't want to answer any weird questions.

"Yeah, I guess," Yamaguchi chuckled softly, putting the dragon back in it's pen to let it sleep in peace. Tsukishima watched as Yamaguchi stood back up, trying his best to smile, but if you knew Yamaguchi the same way Tsukishima did, you'd be able to see the shake in his lips, like he was holding in words he wanted to shout out to the world.   
Tsukishima wanted to shout too though. It wasn't only Yamaguchi.

"Dragons need lots of protection even though they're very mighty," Tsukishima's dad gave them a tight smile, before walking off to another direction. "Come on. There's still more we can see."

"Unicorns are too precious and rare for us to lose any more. We've been trying to breed more to help the population, but it's been proven quite quickly it's not as simple as other animals."

Ah, the unicorn. Tsukishima knew already that unicorns hated him even though they loved Yamaguchi. And he couldn't blame them - Yamaugchi was very lovable after all.

That didn't mean they had to glare down at Tsukishima like that though.

"Oh, it's different than the one we met," Yamaguchi pointed out, staring at the unicorn in it's fake forest that was made specifically for the unicorn. It seemed that all the unicorns were separated for whatever reason, and the ministry made them a mocked up forest to make them feel more 'at home'.   
This unicorn that Yamaguchi was gaping at was a sheer purple instead of white like they saw in the Forbidden Forest, but it still had that shine that made Tsukishima squint at it because that's how blinding it was.

"Kei, you gotta at least try," his dad pushed him, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima both standing at the edge of the forest, but it was obvious Yamaguchi was anxious to go pet it. It was true though, Tsukishima showed no interest in getting friendly with any of these magical creatures, keeping his distance the whole time because he knew they would take any opportunity to crush him and his dark soul.

Tsukishima didn't mind watching Yamaguchi from a distance.

"If something happens, I have my wand," his dad reassured him, pushing Tsukishima nearer towards the unicorn. He could hear Yamaguchi's breath hitch, probably worried about Tsukishima meeting a creature he voiced out that he didn't like, and he wouldn't be surprised if Yamaguchi tried to take his place.

"If you don't at least try this, Kei, you're never gonna know if you'll be able to. So try, alright?" Tsukishima gulped at how pushy his dad was being, but just sighed, wanting to get over it. He looked back, seeing Yamaguchi nervously playing with his fingers, watching Tsukishima with worry. He didn't want Yamaguchi to worry so much about him like that, so he turned back around, trying to go over to the unicorn and eventually making it about 3 metres away. 

The unicorn's head lifted up, it's eyes staring dead into Tsukishima's soul. It made Tsukishima shiver, stepping back quickly when he realized this unicorn was taking it's sweet time inspecting him.

"I-I'm not gonna-""Tsuki!" Before Tsukishima could try being it's friend, it started charging at him, using it's horn like a sword and galloping in Tsukishima's direction. Without hesitation, Tsukishima ran back to the edge where Yamaguchi was already reaching his hand out for Tsukishima to take. He held onto Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi stepping in front of the unicorn bravely, holding his hands out to stop it.

"Hey, hey, shh," Yamaguchi said calmly, the unicorn standing on it's hind legs and neighing once Yamaguchi stopped him. Tsukishima was panting, standing behind Yamaguchi and backing away. Not even a few seconds beside it and the damn unicorn knew what was up.

"It's alright, he won't hurt you," Yamaguchi cooed at the unicorn as it went back down on all four legs, leaning into Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi pet it's snout, scratching behind his ear and softly murmuring things into his ear about how 'he won't hurt you, he has a pure heart' or 'trust me, he's friendly'. Times like this, Tsukishima wondered if Yamaguchi had any sense of character.

"Kei," Tsukishima's dad sighed with disappointment, not looking down at his son. They were both watching as Yamaguchi calmed down the unicorn, Tsukishima gulping again. He knew his dad wanted him to be on to or whatever, but was this really necessary? Taming a unicorn wasn't a life skill.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Tsukishima didn't understand the question at the time, unsure how he was supposed to respond if his dad was even expecting an answer. He shook his head, not trusting his own voice right now. His dad just nodded, his eyes focused on Yamaguchi the whole time, waiting for the unicorn to return back to it's fake forest, galloping away, glitter trailing behind him.

When Yamaguchi turned around he was smiling at Tsukishima in a way that spread warmth all over his body.

Tsukishima's dad gave them money to eat anywhere they wanted as long as they got back to Ministry of Magic building by the end of the day. The two ended up at the Three Broomsticks again, sitting together like they were on a date.  
At least, Yamaguchi thought of it as a date.

"Tsuki, did you not have fun?"

Yamaguchi asked the question like he was scared to ask the question, looking up at Tsukishima reluctantly as they were waiting for their food. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at Yamaguchi, sort of expecting a question like that considering how moody Tsukishima acted for most of the day, but he didn't want to say it out loud. If you combined Tsukishima's want to stay home, plus the fact that these magical creatures hated him, then threw in the idea of his dad finding out they were dating and have Tsukishima potentially kicked out of the house, then this was obviously enough to make Tsukishima irked for the whole trip.

"I enjoyed watching you," Tsukishima shrugged, not looking at Yamaguchi properly. If Yamaguchi could tell, he didn't make a big deal out of it and just nodded, looking away as well, which nowadays Tsukishima noticed he's been doing a lot.

If Tsukishima shut down a conversation topic, Yamaguchi didn't bother poking at it anymore. But to be honest, Tsukishima couldn't remember if it was always like this. Since the last time Yamaguchi really pestered him was when they were kids, maybe this wasn't something he had to worry about too much. Yamaguchi was probably just being considerate and not pressing the subject matter too much to make Tsukishima feel uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Tsuki," Yamaguchi said softly. "For dragging you out. You looked like you didn't have a good time."

The apologies didn't change though. Yamaguchi said 'sorry Tsuki' maybe 10 times on a normal day, more if they hung out from dusk till dawn. Tsukishima didn't know how to tell him how to stop it because it felt like all Yamaguchi's purpose was was to make Tsukishima comfortable, which wasn't the case. Just because Tsukishima didn't want to see the exhibit like Yamaguchi did, it didn't mean he was dragged out.

"Couldn't be helped. You wanted to see them, right?" Tsukishima ended up saying, too awkward to tell Yamaguchi it wasn't necessary to apologize every time he did something to slightly inconvenience him. What was he supposed to say anyway? It wasn't like Yamaguchi intentionally did it, right? It probably just slipped out since he's spent a lot of his life apologzing to Tsukishima anyway.

But wasn't that even worse?

"You seem to be really good with animals, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima stated, trying to start a conversation when Yamaguchi seemed dejected, which worked almost too perfectly, Yamaguchi perking up and nodding at the mention of the animals again. Tsukishima preferred this over tense silence.

"I really love being around them. They're so timid and gently, and such good communicators. I feel like I can understand them better than wizards if I'm to be honest."

Tsukishima didn't know how to bring up the fact that not everyone could tame a Hippogriff, or calm down a dragon, or pin a unicorn down and make them your pet dog. Take Tsukishima for example, who got 100s and above and every course but couldn't even stand beside a unicorn without being almost trampled on within the first 20 seconds of being it's presence.

"Did you choose Care of Magical Creatures as one of your electives this year?" Tsukishima was shocked when Yamaguchi shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows at the answer. It suited Yamaguchi so well, and he would probably get the highest grade out of all the 4th years. It was almost laughable that Yamaguchi didn't take it.

"Why not?" Yamaguchi cocked his head a bit at the sudden question, like he was confused why Tsukishima would even ask. Their food came, both of them thanking the server as she placed their plates on the table. Tsukishima looked back at Yamaguchi, waiting for an answer to why the hell he didn't take the best course for him where literally all Yamaguchi did was study and take care of magical creatures. Taking care of magical creatures was like second nature to Yamaguchi.

"Because Tsuki didn't take it."

Later that night Tsukishima was laying on his bed, reflecting. This day was draining, that was for sure. He didn't even want to think about a unicorn, or look at his phoenix figurine on his desk. Magical creatures were a hassle and needed too much attention.

_"Because Tsuki didn't take it."_

Such simple words, but they echoed in Tsukishima's head for the rest of the day, all the way up till they went home where Tsukishima spaced out during dinner. His dad explained to his mom what they did all day and how 'Tadashi-kun was a natural'. Tsukishima had to agree, Yamaguchi was a natural, wasn't he?

"Did he take Care of Magical Creatures this year?" His dad asked making Tsukishima wince a bit. He barely shook his head, trying to look uninterested in the topic, but Tsukishima's dad took it to another conversation.

"Why not? I can see him building a future in this department. But he has to study too.""Maybe he's not as interested as you thought," Tsukishima said, keeping his voice indifferent, but even his dad could smell some forms of bullshit.

"Did you see how happy he was with those creatures? The department needs more members with Tadashi-kun's spirit. Even at this age he could tame a unicorn! All I'm saying is that maybe a push in the right direction might get Tadashi-kun going." Tsukishima's mom nodded, but she didn't comment too much, just agreeing. The sad thing was, Tsukishima's dad was right. Yamaguchi deserved to do something he was good at and loved. Not a lot of people could say that they loved their job, and here Yamaguchi had the best open path ever and yet he stopped himself for what? Because _Tsukishima_?

"I'm guessing you didn't take it either, Kei?" His mom asked, Tsukishima shaking his head. His dad raised an eyebrow at Tsukishima, looking over at him, resting his chin on the back of his hand.

"Kei?" Tsukishima didn't look up at him. "Did you and Tadashi-kun take all the same classes?" Tsukishima stiffened under his gaze, trying not to make it obvious but it seemed his dad already figured it out.

"Kei, I know I said to look out for him, but he's fine on his own now, don't you think?" Tsukishima clenched his jaw, hating how he was the first suspect, because if his dad really knew, it was all Yamaguchi who was all over him.

"He's the one who chose all of _my_ classes. I didn't ask him to follow me around," Tsukishima blurted out before he could catch himself. There was silence at the table, a bit of tension between the three of them as his mom and dad processed what Tsukishima said. After a minute or so, Tsukishima's dad inhaled sharply, nodding his head.

"I knew it." Tsukishima's breath hitched, his eyes snapping up at his dad, wondering what he was referring to. His dad started shaking his head, stabbing his fork into his dinner.

"I didn't like how Tadashi-kun was looking at you today, Kei. I knew there was something off."

Tsukishima's stomach dropped. That wasn't what he meant, but now that he thought about it he wasn't exactly doing anything to defend Yamaguchi's case. He didn't know how to follow up though, because he wasn't sure exactly how Yamaguchi was looking at him today. Was he admiring Tsukishima? Or was it that dreamy look that Tsukishima caught every once in a while, but let slide because Yamaguchi looked cute that way.

"Be careful, Kei, alright? He was already a possible Squib. We don't need him ruining the title of magic by being a _faggot_ too."

Tsukishima flinched at the slur, standing up, not being able to take it. He couldn't defend himself and he couldn't defend Yamaguchi either. "Excuse me. I'm finished eating now." His parents didn't have enough time to ask him if he wanted dessert.

So now, in his room, staring up at the ceiling, wondering exactly where his relationship with Yamaguchi was going. Were they going to get married? Were they going to come out? No one at school knew they were dating yet, no one could even imagine it. A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin? Very rare, Futakuchi was just a proud person that he didn't care. Or maybe it was because Aone didn't look like a Hufflepuff either.

But Yamaguchi looked like a Hufflepuff. He screamed 'hug me' everywhere he went, flashing smiles at anyone who looked friendly and was gentle to many people he interacted with. Honestly, his mean streak was solely based on the fact that Tsukishima was having a big influence on him.

_"Because Tsuki didn't take it."_

Tsukishima groaned softly, covering his face with a pillow. It's not like he didn't know the type of power he held over Yamaguchi. He didn't abuse it a lot either. Yet why, oh why, did he still hate the thought of this power being taken away from him? Why did he hate the idea of the fact that Yamaguchi could've taken another elective, not thinking about Tsukishima at all? Why did he despise the possibility that one day Yamaguchi would realize he didn't have to say 'sorry, Tsuki' all the time?

Why did Tsukishima feel this way, and why did it have to be Yamaguchi?

Yamaguchi, however, though there was a little bit of awkwardness during his lunch date with Tsukishima, enjoyed the day very much. There were a lot of friendly animals, and he got to learn all about how they were slowly facing more and more trouble against the muggle world. Maybe Yamaguchi would be able to do something to help as well.

"Dashi-chan?" His mom knocked on his door, her arms filled with books. "I bought the books you asked for." Yamaguchi stood from his desk, excitedly going over and taking the books, the exact ones he wrote down on a list for his mom to buy for him. "Thanks, ma!" Yamaguchi kissed her on the cheek before closing the door and going back to his desk, looking through the books.

_Magical Creatures : In Evolution  
Unicorns In All Their Glory  
The Phoenix of Fire And The Ashes They Rise From  
Finding Lion Turtles  
Through History : Of Magic Friends and More_

Since Yamaguchi didn't take Care of Magical Creatures this year he thought he would do his own independent study on them since this actually was something that sparked his interest. Magical creatures, how to tame them, how to own one, what to do when they got hurt - Yamaguchi really thought it was cool that each different creature was like an individual person, having it's own needs and wants.

_'Unicorns, a near extinct species, are one of the most rare creatures known in the wizarding world. However, as evolution permits unicorns are no longer 'rare' but rather hunted, only a few remaining in the whole world and showing no signs of breeding. As of 1995 only 12 unicorns are continue to live on in their normal, safer habitats. Procreation has been shown to slow down as the population shrinks, the Ministry of Magical Creatures Department Head, Miya Arisa, predicts by the year 2002, fewer than 5 unicorns will be found in their natural states.'_

It broke Yamaguchi's heart that unicorns were rapidly becoming extinct, but it wasn't just them. Dragons were being hunted, mermaids were being caught in nets, and griffins were being shot down.

Muggles were really heartless, weren't they?

"Dashi-chan! Dinner's ready!"

Yamaguchi closed his book up, standing up and neatly stacking his new books to the side. It looked tidy and organized, like Tsukishima suggested him to be. It was better for him, Yamaguchi told himself, to be more neat. Tsukishima was probably looking out for him when he pointed out Yamaguchi's messy desk when he first saw it at the very beginning of the summer.

Yamaguchi didn't mind he didn't take Care of Magical Creatures. There wasn't even a chance Tsukishima was going to be in the class, so it wouldn't be worth it in the end. Besides, if it didn't interest Tsukishima, then Yamaguchi didn't have interest in it either.  
If Yamaguchi got boring to Tsukishima, wouldn't it be inevitable that he was going to get thrown away?

"How was your day with Tsukishima-kun?" His dad asked as Yamaguchi sat down at the dinner table, his mouth watering at the meat and rice presented in front of him. He picked up his chopsticks, humming happily.

"It was good. Tsuki looked really cool today too, you should've seen him. Maybe next time you guys can take us instead."


	3. Kuroo's Cat

Date : July 21 1997

Time : 1:08 PM

Current Location : Kuroo's bathroom at his apartement

Mission : Calm Kenma down.

"Kuroo, it's starting to sting."  
"Is it? The timer hasn't gone off yet so let's wait a little longer."

Kenma agreed to visit Kuroo over the summer at least once when Kuroo told Kenma it might be hard find transportation to get back to the wizarding world. Even though Kuroo lived with his wizard father and not his muggle mom, they still lived in the muggle world, simply because his dad was in a lot of debt in the muggle world and being the honorable man he was, vowed to pay that debt back - despite all that debt actually his mom's.

"How does it look?"  
"I can't really tell yet," Kuroo moved the flaps of tinfoil in Kenma's hair, trying to see how much the bleach has coloured. "I think it's working. Your hair does look lighter."

They weren't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts at their age, so when Kuroo told Kenma it was possible to dye their hair without magic, Kenma asked him nicely to try it on his hair. Kuroo has only tried it on Bokuto before and it wasn't that successful, but he promised he wouldn't mess up Kenma's look. Besides, even if he did something wrong, Kenma could probably pull it off.

The timer went off ten minutes later and Kuroo started to take the tinfoil out of, putting it neatly on the counter of the sink. He turned Kenma around, leaning him back in the sink and letting his hair fall in before turning the faucet on. He started washing Kenma's hair, taking the bleach out and shampooing it as well. He could see Kenma was enjoying the little head massage he was getting from Kuroo, chuckling softly as Kuroo started to condition his hair as well. "Feels good?""Yeah."

Kuroo's apartment wasn't big. There was only one bathroom, the living room and kitchen connected with a very small dining area that his dad turned into a study area for Kuroo and there was only one bedroom that Kuroo and his dad shared.  
The thing was, Kuroo really didn't mind.

"There. Sit up, I'll dry your hair." Kenma waited as Kuroo wrapped the towel around Kenma's hair, squeezing the water out, then sat up and turned around so they were both facing the mirror. Without meaning to, Kenma kept his eyes on Kuroo, watching him unintentionally flexing his arms as he wrung the water out of Kenma's hair, only wearing sweatpants and a tank top which should be illegal for specifically Kuroo only.

"Oh..."

Kenma looked up at Kuroo's face, his eyes widened with shock, making Kenma change his focal point again and looking at what Kuroo was looking at. His eyes widened too when he saw what was making Kuroo freeze.

"You forgot my roots...."   
Kuroo chuckled nervously, fishing for the bleach again, trying to get the cup out from under the sink, waving his hand at Kenma. "Wait, wait," Kuroo said quickly, mixing the remaining bleach, showing Kenma that he still had some left. "I can fix it. There's still some left."

Watching Kuroo frantically mixing the bleach and trying to calm Kenma down when Kenma was already calm was quite amusing, especially when Kuroo was hesitant once he saw Kenma's indifferent face.

"Kenma?""I like it." Kuroo raised an eyebrow at Kenma, stopping his mixing and putting the cup of bleach down. "What?" Kenma bit his tongue, holding his smile back because Kuroo wasn't being fair being all cute like that.

"I said I like it. I like that my roots are still black." Kuroo didn't respond for a bit, a little shocked that Kenma actually was fine with it, and if Kuroo did look at it it was actually quite stylish. He couldn't help but laugh, nodding his head slowly.

"Alright then," Kuroo shrugged, putting the bleach down and taking the towel again, putting it on Kenma's head and pressing it against his hair to wring it out more. "I'll dry it like normal."  
Kuroo didn't have a blow dryer so he had to just use the towel, drying Kenma's hair with it, rubbing the ends together and then shaking it on his scalp. Kenma closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation which made Kuroo grin, kissing his forehead. He took out a brush when Kenma's hair was about 80% dry, brushing out the rest and drying it every few rounds until it was pretty much done.

"So?" Kuroo and Kenma were both looking in the mirror at Kenma's hair now, blond except for his roots. Kuroo wanted to laugh, but Kenma was actually brushing his hair with his fingers, nodding in approval.

"Do you like it?" Kenma asked, looking at Kuroo through the mirror. Kuroo beamed at him, leaning down to give Kenma a kiss on the cheek, nodding his head and chuckling as he wrapped his arms around Kenma's neck.

"Even if you're bald, sweetheart, I'd still know you're the prettiest in the world." Kenma hit Kuroo in the stomach before leaning up to kiss him on the lips.

It wasn't until later in the afternoon that Kenma started snooping around the small apartment a little more, trying to find out different things about Kuroo that Kuroo wasn't telling him. Did he have a girlfriend before? What was his favourite food? Did he travel a lot? It was small things that Kenma could probably ask himself, but thought he would be able to find the answer on his own just fine.

Kuroo's desk was filled with books, second or even third hand, battered and used up with lots of notes and highlighted text. There were several notebooks, but Kenma noticed that not all of them were filled with notes on magic.

"What does this say?" Kenma asked, pointing to a word he's never seen before, looking over at Kuroo as he walked over and checked what Kenma was referring to. "'Chemistry'. It's a muggle thing, don't think too much about it," Kuroo answered, but Kenma couldn't look away from the notes. They were a weird sort of organized, he could tell Kuroo put thought into the them, but they were just jumbled in a way Kenma hasn't seen before. Hexagons and triangles, random English letters in place with smaller numbers beside - it was interesting, but he didn't understand shit.

"Here," Kuroo sat down at the desk, pulling Kenma on his lap, putting an arm around his waist and taking one of his textbooks out. "Muggles are weird and always need answers for things. I'll show you some of the answers they've come up with."

Chemistry...was so fucking boring. Kenma didn't understand what Kuroo was saying 100% of the time and was actually interested that extra 0% of the time. The names were too long and too foreign, the combinations were infinite and if you squinted really hard, there was math thrown into the mix for no reason. Kenma didn't understand jackshit even though Kuroo was explaining it quite well, pointing out different diagrams and coming to a point where he started relating the notes to a magical concept to make it a little more bearable to listen to.

But the way Kuroo lit up talking about it. His excited face when two different compounds came together to make either the deadliest gas or the most harmless combination of letters. When Kuroo explained how chemistry was actually really important to things like art because "Michel-Eugène Chevreul actually was able to relate the theory of chemical compositions of animal fats to the concept of colour, influencing a technique of painting we see everywhere today", looking like this Michel guy was his hero or something.  
Kenma could at least pretend he was slightly interested.

"Kuroo," Kenma said softly after Kuroo was finished the first chapter of the 'Grade 11 Chemistry' textbook, Kenma holding in the biggest yawn of the decade. "Do you sometimes wish you went to a muggle school?"

The question sort of threw Kuroo off, not expecting to get asked such a question, especially from someone like Kenma, who probably didn't know anything but magic. He had to think about his answer a little bit before shaking his head.

"Not really. I like practising magic," Kuroo said honestly, taking his hand away from the textbook so he could wrap both arms around Kenma, kissing his shoulder softly, the smell of Kuroo's shampoo in his hair sending a weird, possessive shiver down his spine. Like Kenma was onlyt allowed to smell like Kuroo.

"Besides," Kuroo grinned at Kenma, making sure the smaller was looking at him properly. "If I didn't go to Hogwarts I wouldn't have met you. Right?"

Another thing about Kuroo's desk, Kenma noticed, were all the photos. They weren't normal photos that moved around or anything though. They were still, just that one single shot taken, the eyes staring at you no matter what direction you moved - so they were extra creepy.

The photos were taped on the wall and the back of the desk and they were of, well, everyone? Probably dozens of Kuroo and Bokuto from all years of Hogwarts (so Kenma was able to admire 1st year Kuroo a little bit), then a few of Kuroo, Bokuto and Akaashi, one with Hinata and Kageyama, a few with Nishinoya and Tanaka, a couple with the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team and even one with Tsukishima but it looked like Tsukishima was trying to get away from the camera.   
Then there were some of Kuroo's family where Kenma could probably guess who was who, one being his father, and then a line of a bunch of kids that Kenma could only assume were cousins or distant relatives because of how many there were. Then there was one with Kuroo's grandparents that made Kenma smile a little bit, the photo of when Kuroo was a lot younger, maybe 7 or 8, holding a wand and pointing it to the camera with that same, big grin on his face.  
So maybe Kuroo was adorable as a kid, it was a little disappointing Kenma didn't know this sooner so he could tease Kuroo about it as they grew up.

In another life, was it possible Kenma and Kuroo could've been childhood friends instead?

"Those are my dad's parents," Kuroo pointed at the photo, noticing Kenma was staring at it, 8 year old Kuroo holding his grandpa's wand out. "They don't talk to my dad anymore ever since he married a muggle. And when my mom kicked him out it kinda made everything worse." Hearing about Kuroo's depressing childhood and background always made Kenma feel awkward. But honestly, he was rather glad Kuroo didn't need any pushing to tell him. It made things a lot easier for Kenma in the end.

"If I was a muggle I think that would've added fuel to the fire, so they treat me well. But they still don't talk to my dad, so I try not to meet up with them to often," Kuroo explained, putting down a cup of milk for Kenma while he sipped on his own tea. "They're good wizards, really. I just wish they gave my dad a bit of a break. It's not his fault he fell in love with a muggle."

As Kuroo's voice got quieter, Kenma knew he had to change the subject. He quickly shifted his gaze to another photo, pointing to one of Kuroo, Bokuto and Akaashi, all dressed in another type of clothing holding a stuffed animal each. It was night time, and there seemed to be lights everywhere.

"When was this?" Kenma asked quickly, thinking he chose just a random photo. Kuroo looked at it, humming then grinned at Kenma. "Oh, this? It was during the summer festival," he said, as if Kenma knew what it was. Kuroo quickly followed up with an explanation. "It's a thing we do here, kind of like an 'end of the summer' party. So there's games with prizes, lots of good food. Bokuto and I know about it better, so we wore yakutas, but it was Akaashi's first time. We lent him one though, I think he liked it," Kuroo laughed, remembering the summer festival just last year and how many good memories they made.

It made Kenma jealous. Kuroo had a lot of memories with people, a lot of friends. The feeling of jealousy was a disgusting one, Kenma didn't like that he felt this way especially when Akaashi was a good friend of his (he had absolutely no reason to get jealous of Bokuto).

"So, uh," Kenma coughed awkwardly, taking a sip of his milk. "If, by any chance, I visit you again," Kenma shrugged, circling his finger on the rim of the glass his milk was in. "And this 'summer festival' just so happens to be going on..." With the way Kuroo was smirking at him, Kenma didn't want to finish the sentence.

"You'll visit me again in August?" Kenma scowled at Kuroo's teasing tone, hitting his arm but Kuroo just laughed. "Oh come on, Kenma, just ask me!""No. I don't feel like it anymore," Kenma huffed, not liking how Kuroo found entertainment in his embarrassment. He wanted to throw the milk at Kuroo's face, but since he was thirsty he held back. "Go to this festival with Bokuto. I'll just ask Shouyou to take me."

Kuroo raised an eyebrow at Kenma, leaning down to try and look at Kenma, but Kenma was looking away, pouting in the other direction. Kuroo took advantage, planting his lips on Kenma's cheek which earned him a soft slap to the face, but Kuroo didn't pull away.

"Kenma?" Kuroo called out in a sweet voice, making Kenma's cheeks turn pink but he still didn't look at him. "Kenma, look at me.""I don't want to see your stupid face." Kuroo bit back a laugh, but he did stand up again, looking down at Kenma who was still glaring at the wall. He decided to tease him a bit, walking away from the desk, humming a fun tone like a child.

"Alright, fine. I'll just call Bokuto then. Maybe I could call Akaashi too while I'm at it," Kuroo sang like a song, plopping down on the floor, his legs stretched out and spread because if he predicted the future accurately, he'd know what Kenma would do.   
"You know who else goes to the summer festival? Kogane. And maybe I could get some of my other friends to join us too. You know who I've been getting closer to? Oikawa. And that means Iwaizumi would come as well. How about Lev-" Kenma stood up, making a lot of noise with the chair before stomping towards Kuroo. Kuroo flinched, half expecting to get hit but then, like he predicted, Kenma dropped on the floor between Kuroo's legs, laying his head on Kuroo's thigh, frowning as he rubbed his cheek against him.  
Kuroo's smile just widened, putting a hand in Kenma's hair and brushing through the blond strands.

"I'm sorry," Kuroo said softly when Kenma didn't talk to him, leaning down to kiss Kenma's forehead. "Did I make you mad?"

Kenma curled up between Kuroo's legs, nodding his head making Kuroo chuckle. "Alright, alright. How about I take you to the summer festival this year, yeah? Just us. No one else."

Kenma didn't say anything for a few minutes, not opening his eyes or even moving. Kuroo got a bit worried, wondering if he actually did make Kenma upset and was ready to apoolgize, but then finally Kenma shifted, moving up, putting a hand to Kuroo's thigh.

"I'd...I'd really like that."

"Tetsu-kun! I'm home!"

Later that evening, after Kuroo read Kenma some books, teaching Kenma different muggle functions and showing him a little more of Kuroo's world, Kuroo's dad finally came home. Kuroo perked up, going up to his dad to take his briefcase and greet him at the door. His dad took his shoes and blazer off, patting Kuroo on the back as he entered their flat.

"My boyfriend's over," Kuroo added quickly before his dad could get too shocked at seeing Kenma on the ground, the two of them having several constellation and astronomy textbooks placed out and stars charted. Kenma got up quickly, his arms glued to his side as he bowed down a little over 90 degrees.

"My name is Kozume Kenma. It-It's nice to meet you!" Kenma practically screamed making Kuroo snort quietly. This might've been the most uptight he's seen Kenma. "Hello," his dad responded, bowing a bit back. Kenma stood up again, his face slightly tensed up, but Kuroo who was standing behind his dad mimicked a deep breath to help Kenma calm down. He knew Kenma wasn't good at meeting new people, so a boyfriend's father was probably a little nerving.

"Since you're over, why don't we order food then instead of cooking?" Kuroo's dad suggested making Kuroo hesitate a bit. Ordering food was a bit expensive, and they didn't really do it often because of it. But his dad probably just wanted to treat Kenma for the first time, and once in a while didn't hurt, right? So Kuroo nodded, putting his dad's briefcase to the side as he went over to Kenma, sitting next to him.

"Yeah, sounds good. Kenma, what do you wanna eat?" Kuroo asked, pulling Kenma down to sit again. Kenma opened then closed his mouth before just shrugging, unsure how he was supposed to respond since he wasn't sure if the food in the muggle world was the exact same as the wizarding world.

"Do you like udon, Kenma-kun?" Kuroo's dad asked, smiling down at Kenma. Kuroo and him had the same smile, Kenma noticed. Not trusting his voice, Kenma nodded slowly making Kuroo's dad grin even more, nodding back at him.

"Alright then, I'll order some udon.""Ah, dad. Just make it then! It's better homemade anyway," Kuroo insisted, half not wanting to spend more money, and the other half really believing that making it homemade was better. Kenma didn't know, so he didn't comment, but his dad looked thoughtful as he considered, finally nodding. "Fine," his dad chuckled, ruffling Kuroo's hair before he started walking off to their shared bedroom. "Give me a second to change though, then we can make together, yeah??"

Kuroo nodded, watching his dad leave the room before looking back at Kenma, who let out the biggest exhale. Kuroo didn't even notice that he was holding his breath the whole time.

"You don't have to be so uptight. My dad's not the type to be bothered about the whole 'my son likes a boy' ordeal," Kuroo reassured Kenma, brushing his fingers through Kenma's hair. "I told you, as long as you're not an asshole he's gonna be okay with you." The thing was, Kenma didn't want to be 'okay'. He wanted to be perfect. He wanted to prove he was the best fit possible for Kuroo and not like Kuroo's son of a bitch mother.

"Have you ever made noodles before?" Kuroo snapped Kenma out of his thoughts, standing up and reaching a hand down for Kenma to take. "My dad uses magic to make it a little easier, but it's a lot of fun when you do it yourself," he said as Kenma took his hand and got pulled up, walking over to the kitchen (which was not a very long walk). 

The kitchen was as small as the rest of the house though, which didn't shock Kenma too much, but he did wonder how all three of them were going to do this. There wasn't even a proper table since it was turned into Kuroo's studying area. 

"Here," Kenma jumped a bit as Kuroo started putting an apron on him, tying the back tightly. It was a little bit big on him, almost reaching his ankles. He elbowed Kuroo in the stomach when he heard him laugh.

"Sorry. You just look cute," Kuroo kissed the back of his head before putting on another apron himself. Kenma watched as Kuroo started taking a bunch of things out, like pots and pans and spoons and other things you used in the kitchen. Kenma did notice a lot of the things were pretty overused, burn marks and rusting on the edges. Some of the measuring cups had broken handles, but it seemed like a lot of the ingredients were fresh.

"So, you start off with the flour..."

It turned out, Kuroo could actually cook. When his dad joined them he put a charm on things like the spoon so that they didn't have to strain their arms by mixing the dough together, and when it came time to wait for the dough to rise his dad just put a bit of a chilling spell on it to speed up the process. Then when it was time to roll out and cut the noodles, he charmed the knives as well so they didn't have to worry about uneven noodles.

Kuroo lived in a wizarding house in a muggle world. Kenma wondered if it was harder than Kuroo was leading on.

"So, Kenma-kun," the three of them were sitting in the living room, Kenma and Kuroo's star charts and textbooks put away now as they waited for the noodles to boil. "Tetsu-kun told me you're in Ravenclaw. Did he tell you I was too?" Kuroo did not. It never came up in a conversation so he didn't mention it, but Kenma didn't answer like that. He just shook his head.

"Ah, well, I sort of wanted him to be in Ravenclaw too, but he makes up for it by coming home with good grades, I guess," his dad laughed, Kuroo sticking his tongue out at him. Kenma wanted to say Kuroo was actually very diligent and studied hard - but his dad knew that if he saw his results, right? Maybe he could say Kuroo always read advanced textbooks and made very nice notes - but his dad knew that if he was the one who bought all his notebooks in the first place, right? What about talking about how Kuroo helped tutor all the juniors in his spare time - but his dad knew that if they were as close as they looked, right?

"Do you know what you want to do after school?" Kuroo's dad asked before Kenma could respond, quietly cursing in his mind that he missed the opportunity to say anything that could indicate just how much Kenma liked his son.   
But this new topic wasn't too bad either. He could talk about how he wanted to get a good job and would be able to provide for Kuroo. He could reassure Kuroo's dad that he would make sure Kuroo lived a comfortable life as long as he was with Kenma and Kenma wouldn't be a burden.

The thing was, Kenma actually didn't know what he wanted to do after Hogwarts.

"Oh, uhm," he mumbled lamely, trying to come up with something on the spot, but he didn't want to lie either. He was running out of time, hearing the seconds tick by until it was probably too long because his dad starting to laugh lightly, waving his hand.

"Ah, don't worry about it. You're still young, aren't you? You have lots of time to think about it." Kenma cringed inwardly, feeling like he was messing up while Kuroo's dad was giving him wide open doors of chances to walk into.  
Kenma wanted to scream at himself for looking so stupid right now.

"Tetsu-kun needs to think about it now though, don't you?""Yeah, yeah," Kuroo waved his hand at his dad, shutting the conversation down quickly. "I told you, I'm thinking about it. Don't worry, I won't leave you alone.""Don't talk to me like that, Tetsurou! Honestly, Kenma-kun. You could've chosen any boy but you chose this dump? Maybe I should be saying thank you now."

Kenma was supposed to laugh, right? But the words of Kuroo echoed in his mind, _"Don't worry, I won't leave you alone,"_ like it was chanting in his mind the more he looked between Kuroo and his dad. Kuroo was scared for his dad, right? He didn't want his dad to live in debt, he wanted to take care of his dad, he wanted to make sure his dad was living comfortably. 

Kuroo deserved the biggest desk with the best textbooks and the moon and the stars while Kenma was at it. He deserved a luxurious life, not this small, one room apartment. And Kuroo's dad could come with, of course. They both didn't deserve to be stuck in this weird, muggle place, they were both wizards for crying out loud. Kenma let the thought linger in his mind before it was the only thing he could think about.

"I can pay your debt off."

The statement took all three of them by surprise, Kuroo's eyes wide at Kenma and his dad looking at Kenma with a blank face, his smile now gone as Kenma made the suggestion so confidently.

Kenma felt his breath becoming shallow, his lungs filling up with horseshit as the two of them stare at him like he said something wrong. Was he sweating? He felt like he was sweating. His palms were damp and he could feel the eyes of the still Polaroid photos judging him too.  
Kenma wanted to run away so fast.

"Sorry?" Kuroo's dad cocked his head in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Kuroo visibly gulped, knowing that this wasn't exactly the best conversation. He gave Kenma a reassuring nod before putting a hand on his dad's shoulder.

"Dad, he's probably just concerned about me leaving you after Hogwarts. But Kenma knows our deal, I won't give up so easily." Kenma should've kept his mouth shut at that and silently agree. He wasn't sure what came over him in the moment.

"I can pay for it now though," Kenma's usual quiet voice was matching Kuroo's confidence, which was new for both of them. Kuroo's eyes were stuck to Kenma all of a sudden, not knowing how to cover for him now. "My family can, at least. I don't mind, I-I think for Kuroo it would be better, and I want both of you to live without worry. So I can pay it off, it's no problem. My parents both work as directors, and really, we don't mind converting the money. I don't even think they'll really notice, even though I'm not sure how much debt you need to pay off. So, uhm, please. Let me pay off your debt."

Kenma's rant ended with a soft panting. All of a sudden the lights were hot and Kenma felt like he was burning. Was his face red? If he looked down the back of his hands were.

"Kenma-kun," Kuroo's dad sighed softly after a few minutes of tensed silence, laughing a bit bitterly in a way that made Kenma freeze up, unsure what to do. Was what he said offensive? Should he just have kept quiet?

"The offer is very considerate and tempting," Kuroo's dad admitted. His eyes were still friendly, no sign of resent whatsoever, which Kenma wasn't sure was a good sign or not. "But maybe you'll understand when you're an adult. I'll have to refuse your offer."

Kuroo's dad stood up, saying he was going to check on the noodles, but Kenma felt like as he left the room a huge weight fell on his shoulders, making him hunched over and sulking.

Kenma failed. He felt like he failed, anyway. And to top it off, 'when you're an adult' was ringing in his ears, making his whole body chill and shiver even though he was sweating just seconds ago.  
Kuroo's dad still saw him as a kid, one that couldn't be mature enough for Kuroo. After seeing Kuroo today, it was clear that he was one step ahead of a lot of people their age, wasn't he? Taking care of himself, taking care of his dad - Kuroo was a whole lot closer to being an adult than Kenma was at least.

"Kenma?" Kuroo reached out his hand, caressing Kenma's cheek and out of instinct Kenma leaned into his touch. He wanted to cry, but the affectionate eyes of Kuroo was what stopped him. Kuroo was still here, and Kuroo still liked him. Didn't he?

"I'm sorry..." Kenma whispered softly making Kuroo shake his head vigorously instantly. "Don't apologize! You were just thinking about us, right? You came from a good place." Just because you come from a good place doesn't make you a good person. "But you know how dads get, right? Having to be a man. Don't take the refusal to heart, alright? He's probably thinking about your family too."

Kenma didn't know what else to say. He felt like he failed, but Kuroo's dad was so nice that it also felt like he passed too easily. It was like he got a fancy, big, shiny trophy after losing a competition, just to squint at the label and read that it was a 'participation award'.   
Kenma didn't feel like he won Kuroo's dad's approval, yet at the same time he got his blessing anyway.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Kuroo's voice was uplifting, scratching under Kenma's chin and Kenma responded very cat-like, raising his head up so that Kuroo could scratch him more. 

"Don't worry too much. My dad and I can handle it, and he loves you. I love you more though, don't forget that."

Kenma loved Kuroo too. So much. And that was why he worried.

Dinner was good, Kenma ended up finishing one bowl which was a lot considering his regular appetite. The conversation of debt and money never came up again - unsurprisingly - and Kenma felt a little more at home when Kuroo's dad asked him more simpler questions. Kenma could see where Kuroo got his friendly spirit from.

"I'm gonna go out for a smoke," Kuroo's dad said, putting on a sweater. It was later in the evening now, the moon was out and Kenma had to go home soon, though he was heavily considering sleeping over. "I'll be back in a bit."

So Kuroo and Kenma were alone together again.

"He's nice," Kenma mumbled, right now sitting between Kuroo's legs again, his back resting on Kuroo's chest as Kuroo brushed his hair with a comb, humming softly. Every few seconds Kuroo would kiss his shoulder, notably whenever Kenma would tense up at whatever silly thoughts he was having.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he? Have no idea what my mom did to get him to marry her," Kuroo laughed, but Kenma didn't think it was that funny. Muggles were mean people was all Kenma could learn from Kuroo's stories of her. He didn't like how she left a sweet kid like Kuroo, didn't like how she was crazy enough to leave the whole Kuroo family with an immense amount of debt.  
If Kenma was able to avoid expulsion by doing underage magic he wouldn't have hesitated blowing a spell at her ass.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Kenma started saying, Kuroo humming in response as he started to play with Kenma's hair a little bit more. It felt like Kuroo was starting to braid his hair - where he learned how to braid hair, Kenma would ask later.

"Do you have a cat?"

Kuroo froze at the question, looking around to see what indication of a cat Kenma could've picked up on. There was no cat food, no litter box, not even a little bed for their cat to sleep in. Sure they were poor, but animal cruelty was basically one of the worst crimes. No way would Kuroo have a pet and not spoil them silly.

"What makes you say that? Wouldn't you have seen my cat by now if I had one?" Kenma shrugged, noting that as a good point, but he ended up pointing down at the carpet. Kuroo looked to where Kenma was pointing, his eyes widening slightly at what Kenma was looking at.

"You have cat hair everywhere. I thought I was imagining it, but it's in your bedroom too."

Kuroo wanted to tell Kenma eventually, a good time just never came up. So now that Kenma had brought it up, noticing the black cat hair everywhere, he felt like now, in the comfort of their own home, what better time was there to tell him?

"Kenma," Kuroo's voice was all of a sudden excited, unbraiding Kenma's hair and standing up. All of a sudden Kenma had no support so he had to sit up on his own, looking up as Kuroo walked in front of Kenma, grinning widely. He leaned down, giving Kenma a quick kiss on the nose, brushing a strand of hair behind Kenma's ear.

"Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you."

When Kuroo transformed into a cat and started purring in Kenma's lap, he didn't expect Kenma to start crying.

Kuroo's clothes were laying on the ground, no more body filling them, but now he was a naked cat on Kenma's lap, mewling as he rubbed his cheek on Kenma's tummy. He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he would get from Kenma, actually. At first he thought Kenma might get mad for not telling him sooner. Then, as they started dating, he thought Kenma would be furious.  
Kuroo was ready for both reactions, really.

What he was not ready for was tears dropping on his whiskers, Kenma's breath trembling as he held his black cat with one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.

"Te-Tetsurou..." Kenma hiccuped, sniffling quietly but it was no use. Kuroo could see Kenma's tears streaming down his face, not looking like they were going to stop any time soon.

Did Kuroo just fuck up? Was this a bad time to tell Kenma he was Tetsurou? Kenma did pour out his heart to Tetsurou all of his 3rd and 4th year, and he did give Kenma a hard time every time he tried to sneak the cat inside the dorms. And so what if Kenma confessed his love for Kuroo to Kuroo's cat form a few times - it wasn't a big deal. Kuroo liked him anyway, so what was the problem?  
Kuroo couldn't ask any of these questions as he watched Kenma crying turn into sobbing, gritting his teeth like he was trying to hold it in. Kuroo felt like if he were to change back to human though, that would make things even worse.

After a few minutes, Kenma's crying started to slow down, taking deep breaths and calming down a bit. Kuroo tried to help out a bit, nuzzling his kitten face into Kenma's hand, which earned him an instinctive pet on the head that Kuroo purred at without hesitation. Kenma looked down at him, his expression unreadable. His eyes were still red and puffy, but he didn't look upset nor angry.

Kenma's face was blank, just like usual. Kuroo wasn't expecting this sort of reaction either.

"You-You were there for me," Kenma whispered, pressing his forehead against Tetsurou's, nosing his little nubby nose that twitched at the touch. "Even when I didn't know you were there, you were still there." Kenma sniffed hard again, putting Tetsurou down and looking away, coughing away his sobs. If he cried any more tears then there'd be no more water left in his body. He looked back down at the soft, fluffy, black cat. a part of it's top tuffed up fur leaning to one side that resembled Kuroo's hair - Kenma was very certain that's what made him name this cat Tetsurou.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you too."

Kuroo felt a hard tug in his heart, wanting to change back into his human form to assure Kenma that there was no need to apologize. Kenma didn't need to be there, it wasn't a requirement or anything. Kenma didn't even know what was going on with Kuroo's family situation when it started. So what if Kenma wasn't there at the beginning - he was there now, wasn't he?

But Kuroo didn't change back yet as Kenma took the cat into his arms, cuddling it closely, kissing behind it's ears and sighing softly. Kuroo's tail swished around happily as Kenma stroked his back, nuzzling into the soft fur, sighing softly. With the lack of distance between them Kuroo could feel Kenma's heart beat slowing down and going back to normal rather than a panicked rate he's felt Kenma experience before. It also put Kuroo at ease.

"You can change back, Kuroo," Kenma sniffled, wiping his eyes again, giving him a reassuring small nod, putting Kuroo down and sitting back, waiting for Kuroo to transform back.

"I won't hit you too hard."

Kuroo has been an animagi for a shorter time than Bokuto. So when he changed back into a human he still didn't know how to make sure his clothes were still on.

Meaning when he went back to being Kuroo, he was naked.

"Ah, sorry," Kuroo tried to make it look like not a big deal, but he was blushing as he scrambled for his boxers again, putting them on quickly and covering up. Maybe he should've gone to his room first before turning back to human.

"No, don't apologize," Kenma mumbled, holding in his sulking when Kuroo covered up again. This time though, Kuroo didn't put back his sweatpants on and just stayed in boxers and a tank top, which Kenma wanted to hit him harder for.

So he did. He punched Kuroo in his weirdly muscular arm, scowling a bit when Kuroo flinched. It probably didn't hurt that much, Kuroo was just being over dramatic. 

"What was that for?" Kenma didn't respond, hugging his knees up to his chest and looking away. Kuroo just scoffed, leaning down to rest his head on Kenma's chest, getting comfortable on him, but Kenma didn't push him away this time. He let Kuroo lay on him, the two not saying a word for a few moments.

"Are you mad at me?" Kenma looked down at him, furrowing his eyebrows, unsure what Kuroo meant by that. Kuroo looked back up at him, seeing Kenma's confusion. "You know, I didn't tell you I was your pet for a long time. You said some personal things sometimes too, and at first I felt like I was eavesdropping, but after getting to know you I couldn't hold back. Are you mad at me?"

Kenma looked at him, calculating just how much he wanted Kuroo to suffer. After thinking about it for a bit he leaned down and kissed Kuroo quickly before shooting back up, blushing as he looked the other way again.

"I wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone else anyway. So if it's you, I'm not that mad."

Kuroo could feel himself heating up as well. When Kenma said cute things like that, he couldn't help it. His arms went around Kenma's waist, pushing Kenma down on the floor. Kenma's eyes widened at the sudden position change, watching as Kuroo spread Kenma's legs and nested between them, putting his head on Kenma's stomach and lying down there comfortably. Kenma looked down at him, at first blushing at the position, but then laid his head down as well, looking up at the ceiling. His hands found their way to Kuroo's hair, now taking his turn to play around with Kuroo's locks.

"Comfy?"  
"Yeah." Kuroo's fingers traced words on Kenma's thighs, heart shapes and small words like 'star' or 'love'. Silent moments with Kenma were definitely his favourite, despite loving the sound of his voice. He could tell, this was when Kenma felt the most calm.

"We haven't had sex yet."  
"Well, you're not wrong."

It's been quite a few months since Kuroo and Kenma started dating, just a little over 8 to be exact, and Kenma was still a virgin. Which, if you thought about it, wasn't abnormal or anything.  
But Kuroo was hot and still hasn't slammed Kenma against the wall yet. So obviously, there was a big problem.

"Do you want to have sex?"

Kuroo looked up at Kenma, seeing Kenma still staring up at the ceiling. They haven't switched their position, Kuroo's head still on Kenma's stomach and Kenma's hands in Kuroo's hair. The only difference was that now Kenma wrapped his legs around Kuroo's body.

"I mean, yeah," Kuroo said, trying to stay nonchalant, but it was obvious, like any other teenager, the topic was making Kuroo a little flustered. Especially around Kenma, who he didn't expect to take the subject of sex so calmly, Kuroo couldn't help but get warmed up at the idea of him and Kenma having sex. 

"I do want to-""Then how come we haven't yet?" Kenma asked quickly, looking down at Kuroo, raising an eyebrow at him. "Do you know annoying it is? When your boyfriend is supposed to be the horny one, but it ends up being you? Do you know how frustrated I get when people think it's you who's always making moves at me, but I'm the one who always has to bring up the topic?"

The small rant took Kuroo by susprise, but Kenma quickly dropped his head again, sighing loudly. "Live up to your standard, Kuroo. It's annoying when you get embarrassed. It doesn't suit you."

Kuroo let out a loud laugh. Kenma sure did get talkative when he needed to, so now that he knew Kenma was getting impatient with having their first time, at least Kuroo knew Kenma was mentally prepared.  
That's how Kenma made it seem, anyway.

"How about if you visit me again I'll suck your dick."  
"So if I visit you tomorrow?"

Kuroo laughed again, shaking his head, kissing Kenma's thigh. After years of pinning Kenma and this was the result? Kuroo didn't have any complaints at all, even though Kenma's hits hurt sometimes. He could take a couple shots if it meant that Kenma was happpy.

"You'll really visit me again tomorrow?" The two were silent again, Kenma thinking about it. Kuroo knew it was a bit of hassle to keep switching between the muggle world and the wizarding world, especially nowadays, where apparently muggles were getting a lot closer than before to finding out about how magic really existed. His mom knew, of course, despite the ministry council wanting to obliviate her. Kuroo's dad even wanted to handle her since he didn't want anyone to be harmed by her, but in the end they left her alone when they realized all she wanted was money.

"Maybe we could go out on a date instead," Kenma suggested softly, his hands going from Kuroo's hair to the back of Kuroo's neck, stroking his skin lightly making Kuroo shiver.

"And you can show me this 'volleyball' sport you like so much."


	4. Bokuto's Parents

Date : July 21 1997

Time : 10:45 AM

Current Location : Outside the Bokuto residence

Mission : Let Bokuto visit his parents, then help him completely forget about them for the rest of the day.

"You ready?" Akaashi asked the grey and black owl on his arm, stroking his head as the owl nipped Akaashi's hand affectionately. Akaashi took it as a yes, kissing the top of the owl's head to calm him down. The owl hooted softly, flapping his wings a bit like he was throwing his hands up in the air cheering. Akaashi just hummed, using his knuckle to stroke the back of the owl's spine.

When they were both ready, Akaashi pressed the doorbell of Bokuto's parents house, hearing footsteps approaching the door and answering.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

Bokuto's dad looked like Bokuto. They were about the same height already, but Bokuto promised he would grow even taller. The hair was even a little similar, having the same colours mixed together, but Akaashi didn't have time to get distracted.

"Hello," Akaashi bowed to him. "My name is Akaashi Keiji. I just moved down the street, so I was hoping to greet my neighbours today. My parents apologize for not being able to join me today, but I brought my pet owl, if you don't mind," Akaashi flashed a smile, looking over to his owl who hooted softly, his eyes closing slowly as he looked at Bokuto's father. 

"Nice to meet you, Keiji-san," Bokuto's dad greeted back, smiling down at him. He held a hand out to the owl on Akaashi's arm, looking at Akaashi for approval. "Can I pet him?" Akaashi nodded, moving his arm closer to Bokuto's dad and letting him pet Boku-sorry. Akaashi's owl.

"He's friendly.""Looks like it," Bokuto's dad grinned, scratching the top of the owl's head, chuckling when the owl hooted at him. "Do you want to come in, Keiji-san? My wife just made some cookies. I can make you a cup of tea. Or do you need to get home soon?" 

Akaashi looked at his pet owl, pretending like he was asking for his approval. It gave off an innocent look, like Akaashi was just a regular kid with a pet bird he loved very much. Akaashi was a normal boy with a normal bird in a normal neighbourhood.

"I think he wants to come in," Akaashi chuckled as the owl hooted eagerly, flapping his wings excitedly but didn't fly away. Akaashi's owl was very well trained, it seemed, so Bokuto's dad wouldn't get worried about a crazy bird flying around his house or shitting around. "I think he'll love a few cookies."

Bokuto's dad hummed, opening the door more so Akaashi could step in, Akaashi taking his shoes off at the front, waiting for Bokuto's dad to give him some slippers before walking in the front. Akaashi looked around the house, trying not to be too suspicious, but he couldn't help but inspect it a little bit, noticing the photos, the antiques, the decor - it looked very...Bokuto.

"Does he have a name?" Bokuto's dad asked, pointing to the owl. Akaashi hummed, nodding, smiling down at Bokut-sorry, his owl, kissing the top of his head affectionately. He couldn't tell easily, but something was telling him that his owl was feeling a little anxious.

"Yes. His name is Fukurou."

The Bokuto residence was very modern and trendy. Despite them being an older couple, he noticed that the artwork that hung up, the dishes Bokuto's mom used, even the furniture, all looked like it belonged at a display in Ikea.  
Then there were the photos. Akaashi's owl kept looking at the photos, noticing that they were all just the Bokuto couple, their wedding day, their honeymoon, their anniversaries. No other family members or even friends were hung up in any frames or Polaroids.

And then there was the back wall - it was covered with weapons. They made a decoration out of it, making it look like antique swords and collectible guns or something, but Akaashi knew what they were really for. 

"Sorry, Keiji-san, you said you were a student?" Bokuto's mom put down a cup of tea for Akaashi, Akaashi mumbling a qiuck 'thank you' as she sat down on the opposite couch so that they were both facing Akaashi. It was a bit intimidating, meeting Bokuto's parents for the first time like this, but it was about time that both Akaashi and Bokuto come face to face with them - Akaashi didn't mind doing all the talking.

"Yes, I am. I go to a boarding school though, so I doubt you would've heard about it," Akaashi answered, surprised when they didn't ask him more about his school, but decided that was more of a pro. 

"And your parents? What do they do?""My father is a headmaster and my mother is an author," Akaashi answered truthfully. "So their schedules are a bit hectic, even over the summer." Both of them nodded at the answer, and like they could sense the question coming up, Bokuto's dad was answering.

"I'm a coach at a regular high school," Bokuto's dad said humbly, waving his hand like he was dismissing the fact. "And my wife is a kindergarten teacher. Definitely not on the same scale as a headmaster! But that must be very interesting for the whole family. How did you lot end up moving up here?" The area was a little small, a very tight knit community, but Akaashi and Bokuto had practiced answers.

"Well, my father wanted a more quiet neighbourhood. He doesn't mind the commute he needs to take. And with my mother being an author, she could work at home a little more, but she's been focusing on geographical history lately, so she ends up travelling a lot. Currently, she's in Latvia." It wasn't a lie. Akaashi's mom was in Latvia, recording notes about the historic artifacts of their people.  
She just also happened to be fighting mermaids, interviewing centaurs and riding dragons as well.

"That must be very exciting!" Bokuto's mom exclaimed, her eyes widening in curiosity. "You have to tell us more! Maybe we should all have dinner too when she gets back. I know our home is humble, but I hope we could get along nicely."

So Akaashi talked. He talked about his mom and his dad, how both of them were hardworking parents and always made time for Akaashi when he needed it. They would gather at the end of the summer at the temple before the school year started and wish Akaashi good luck for his good grades. He talked about how his dad usually helped his mom edit her books before they were published and how Akaashi was always one of the first people to read them (they were very shocked Akaashi was interested in reading textbooks over his summer break). He talked about how he didn't mind going to a boarding school because that's actually where his dad was the headmaster, so if he ever felt lonely or homesick he could just visit him in his office and feel better again, but that wasn't even necessary because the other students at the boarding school were like family already.

"This boarding school sounds very prestigious," Bokuto's dad commented, impressed by the way Akaashi talked about it. "I don't know if we would ever send our child to a boarding school though. Ten months would be too long. You're lucky you're father is the headmaster."

Akaashi stilled a bit and the owl who was now on his lap also flapped his wings, turning his head around several times. "Your child?" Akaashi tried not to sound shocked, looking around the room without meaning to. "You have a child?"

The Bokuto couple laughed nervously, Bokuto's mom scratching the back of her head, looking over at her husband, then the two of them shook their heads. Akaashi held in a sigh of relief.

"Uhm, I know it's a little personal, but," Bokuto's mom started saying, her voice shaking slightly. "But for the past few years...I've been experiencing quite a few miscarriages."

Akaashi froze again, stiffening as he held onto the owl on his lap, trying to keep him still as well. Bokuto's mom looked like she's had this conversation before, considering the way she played with her fingers, looking up so that she could hold in her tears. Akaashi felt guilty for bringing it up, but it seemed like talking about it was the best way for them to get it out of their system - sort of like Bokuto.

"But we really, really, _really_ feel that being parents is our calling," she finished off, letting out a shaky breath, laughing a bit. "I know, it sounds a bit crazy. But even if we only had one child, that would be the greatest blessing in the world. We would love them so, so much."

Akaashi could feel his tongue about to slip, how he wanted to scream at them that they already had the best son in the world, the purest, kindest, friendliest, most amazing son they could ever ask for. He wanted to shake them, wake them up and tell them that they've already been blessed, but decided to have those killing machines on their wall and throw him away.

"Sorry, Keiji-san. Did we make you uncomfortable?""Not at all," Akaashi shook his head quickly, petting the back of his owl's head. "No, no, it's not that, it's just..." Akaashi cleared his throat, shaking his head again.

"Sorry. I was the one who brought it up," Akaashi bowed in apology, but the Bokuto couple shook their hands, assuring Akaashi that he didn't say anything wrong. "Don't worry about it, Keiji-san. We're trying not to give up, but we're starting to consider adoption. It's just, the process is so long, so maybe it'll be a little difficult. But we really feel like raising a child is something we would enjoy."

Akaashi felt a lump in his throat forming. If there wasn't a gun hanging on the wall, he would've thought that the Bokutos were harmless people, not having any violent bone in their body.

Maybe it wasn't that either though. Bokuto's parents _were_ kind people when Akaashi talked to them normally like this, had a perfectly casually conversation about their lives and didn't bring up anything out of the ordinary.

Just like anyone else, something that they didn't understand scared them. The only difference was was that the Bokuto couple took action.

"Do you have a name planned?" Akaashi asked, the question making Bokuto's mom squeal in excitement. Her smile as well, was bright like Bokuto. It made Akaashi's heart heavy just how alike Bokuto was like to these people, how much love Bokuto must've received from them. Akaashi was starting to understand why Bokuto still visited them every month to see how they were doing.

"Well, we do have a name planned if we have a son. For a daughter, we're not sure just yet," Bokuto's mom took a pen and a napkin, writing down the kanji of a name that made Akaashi hold his breath.

"'Kou - Ta - Rou'. Because we know, whoever our child is they will shine brighter than any star in the sky. I can feel it - our son would really be a brilliant person."

"Thank you for the tea and the cookies. I promise to bring my parents next time I visit," Akaashi bowed to Bokuto's parents as he walked off, the couple waving at Akaashi and his pet owl. "Be safe, Keiji-san! I'd love to see you again," Bokuto's mom called out to him making Akaashi gulp, nodding in response. He walked with his owl on his arm till the end of the street, turning to a nearby park and walking to one of the big trees, hiding behind it. 

When Akaashi stopped walking, Bokuto transformed back into a human.

"Are you okay?" Was Akaashi's first question, seeing Bokutos' face look depressed and unsure. This was the first time he entered his old house after 6 years. Akaashi didn't know that the furniture was different, from traditional and old fashion to modern and chic. Akaashi didn't know that those weapons on the wall that they displayed so proudly used to be hidden away in the attic, only to be taken out once a month during a full moon. Akaashi didn't know that his parents actually were kind, sweet people - they were just scared of the unknown.

"No," Bokuto whimpered, Akaashi already ready with his arms open, pulling Bokuto in for a hug. Bokuto didn't even think as he hugged Akaashi back, leaning his head against his shoulder and sniffling, trying to hold in his crying but he let the dam break just seconds after, not being able to successfully suppress his feelings. He started crying in Akaashi's shoulder, letting out loud sobs while Akaashi rubbed his back, cooing into his ear soflty.

At the end of the day, even if Bokuto was older than Akaashi by a year, he was also still ultimately a kid - someone who was growing, someone with parents. Bokuto couldn't be the energetic fool Akaashi first met, right?

"Cry, Bokuto-san. Don't hold back."

Bokuto did not hold back at all, wailing even louder as Akaashi continued to comfort him, kissing his temple and quietly supporting Bokuto. Akaashi wasn't sure what to say in a situation like this. He wasn't even sure if anything could be said.

Akaashi knew, and Akaashi's family knew. Bokuto's parents hunted magical creatures. Hunted them, killed them off, all under the influence of a very persuasive man who ran what was basically a cult. It felt like it was worse than having an actual powerful wizard attacking them because at least with a wizard the battle could happen any day and everyone would be prepared - but Bokuto's parents were muggles. They were muggles who knew about the magic existence, chose to take the offensive and now were in a battle that didn't need to happen. Because of fear? Confusion? Ignorance?

It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all. But what made it the most sad, in Akaashi's opinion, was that Bokuto still loved his parents so much even if he didn't say it.

"My-My mom..." Bokuto sniffed, lifting himself from Akaashi's shoulders and rubbing his eyes. Akaashi shushed Bokuto quickly, telling him he didn't have to say anything if he didn't want to, but Bokuto shook his head, wanting to finish his sentence. Akaashi would be there for him, he knew that.

"My mom...she loves kids."

Akaashi's face softened, holding Bokuto closer when he started crying again.

"You don't have to be here, Bokuto-san."  
"No. I want to be here."

The two of them watched from the backyard of Bokuto's old house, Bokuto's parents dancing as they washed the dishes together. They were laughing, smiling and goofing around like any other couple would, splashing soap and water around as Bokuto's dad led his wife in a fun mix of ballroom and tango. Bokuto's mom's laugh was loud enough that Akaashi could hear where Bokuto got it from.

"I'm glad they liked you," Bokuto said softly. His eyes were still puffy and red, and Akaashi's shoulder was still wet from Bokuto's sobbing earlier. But here they were, watching Bokuto's parents through their kitchen window. 

Akaashi took his wand out, pointing it at them. This was the one spell the ministry allowed a student from Hogwarts to do in the past 50 years, just this one, quick spell that they would pretend never happened.   
Just for Bokuto.

" _Obliviate._ " They weren't able to tell if it worked, but considering Akaashi's skill in magic Bokuto and Akaashi were both confident his parents didn't remember meeting Akaashi at all. Which was a little bit sad since they seemed to be fond of Akaashi, but it didn't matter. They didn't even remember their son.

"At least you know how they're doing," Akaashi said softly, reaching out to take Bokuto's hand. Bokuto nodded weakly as he held Akaashi's hand, intertwining their fingers together and sighing softly. 

"Yeah, I guess," Bokuto mumbled softly, looking down at the ground, not being able to look up anymore. He didn't want to see his parents having fun without him.

"Bokuto-san?" Akaashi squeezed his hand softly, but Bokuto didn't look up. He was sulking, rightfully so however, so Akaashi didn't push him. But when he pulled Bokuto for him to leave the backyard, Bokuto seemed to be glued to the ground.

"Come on, Bokuto-san," Akaashi pressed softly, not thinking it was a good idea to keep staying there. It would just make Bokuto even more depressed, so the faster they got out of there the better.   
Even if Bokuto deserved to have a happy, healthy relationship with his parents.

"Akaashi," Bokuto called out with a sad, low voice making Akaashi soften up, looking at Bokuto patiently. He was ready for almost anything, but he just hoped Bokuto wouldn't apologize for anything. Bokuto had nothing to apologize for.

"Can we stay here?" Akaashi was almost about to retaliate, but Bokuto stopped him. "I meant in the muggle world. Not here, like, _here_ , but maybe we could go to the mall? Or see a movie? Kinda like a date, maybe?"

Akaashi could feel Bokuto's pulse, how it was rapidly trying to slow down. If it meant that Bokuto would feel more comfortable and hopefully get his mind off of his parents for a little bit, then Akaashi wouldn't mind staying in the muggle world for a little while longer.

"Alright, Bokuto-san," Akaashi nodded, bringing Bokuto's hand up to kiss it. "We can do whatever you want to today. Lead the way."

Dates are supposed to be two people, right? And if you're already a couple then that meant it really should just be you and your significant other, right? Dates are supposed to be with _two_ people, and if you felt frisky then possibly a double date to make it four people.

"All I'm saying is that Pikachu versus a dragon is the same thing as Noya versus a dragon."  
"Pikachu would sit on Noya-kun and end him. He has no chance!"  
"Have you _seen_ Noya? He wouldn't hesitate cutting Pikachu if he looked at him wrong."  
"Well have you seen Pikachu? If Ash was in danger there's no way Noya stands a chance. His lightening isn't fast enough for Pikachu."

Even though Akaashi was in the middle, holding Bokuto's hand, Kuroo was having the loudest conversation with Bokuto about the stupidest thing. Stupid because 1) just from hearing the context Akaashi knew that this was just some dumb manga Kuroo and Bokuto were into. And 2) Akaashi ultimately had now idea what they were talking about. He couldn't contribute, so naturally he just didn't talk.

"What about Bulbasaur then? Noya-kun or Bulbasaur?"  
"Noya. I think he wouldn't mind killing a dinosaur."

The only reason why Akaashi hasn't asked Kuroo politely to leave yet was because it looked like Bokuto had other things on his mind now instead of his parents, and it was Kuroo's stupid conversation topics that were redirecting his energy towards something else in the first place. It actually helped their case.  
Didn't make it any less annoying though.

"Are you gonna watch the volleyball game tonight?"  
"Nah, I have to get home early to help my dad with something. You're gonna drop by?"

That too. Akaashi understood that both Bokuto and Kuroo came from a muggle background and they both were raised and spent time in the muggle world during the breaks, but he wasn't able to understand what was going on whenever they started talking about the muggle world. It was like an exclusive conversation for them while Akaashi was just standing there like a figurine, quiet and crucially only for display.

"Ah, I'm hungry," Kuroo groaned softly, looking through the windows as they started hitting a restaurant street. Bokuto used the hand that wasn't holding Akaashi's to take his wallet out. At a time like this, Akaashi would try offering to treat the three of them, but he didn't have muggle money so his wallet was as useless as Kuroo's. "I can buy lunch for the three of us, but you can only drink water." Kuroo nodded, giving Bokuto a thumbs up. Bokuto looked over at Akaashi, like he was waiting for him to say something. It didn't hit Akaashi until a few minutes later that Bokuto was waiting for Akaashi to say he was okay.

"Oh, yeah," Akaashi recovered quickly, covering up quickly his irritation. "I'm okay with water." Bokuto grinned, kissing Akaashi's cheek sweetly, which did make Akaashi happy, but Kuroo didn't need to gag.

"Ugh, third wheeling sucks. At least treat me like your kid or something if you're gonna act married," Kuroo stuck his tongue out at them. Akaashi wanted to retort something like 'I'm actually not quite sure who the _real_ third wheel is here' but decided to keep his mouth shut.

If he said something about Kuroo, Bokuto wouldn't hesitate kicking Kuroo out. It was nice, and Akaashi knew where his heart was, but the point of this trip was to make sure Bokuto wasn't focused on his parents too much. Kuroo was good at being loud and stupid with Bokuto, so Kuroo being there was actually more necessary than Akaashi in that sense (and that sense _only_ ).

"Oh, quit whining," Bokuto let go of Akaashi's hand briefly to punch Kuroo in the arm, but Kuroo quickly slapped his hand away, accidentally hitting Akaashi in the process. Akaashi stopped walking, inhaling deeply, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, Kuroo and Bokuto were hitting each other.

"You fucking turdstick."  
"Cock sucker."  
"You're one too!" 

Akaashi exhaled loudly, waiting out their fight even though they looked so idiotic. The people walking past them were looking at them like they just used magic, but honestly Akaashi would've really rather that than anything.   
He didn't know why they were friends sometimes, especially when Bokuto didn't hold back hitting him, and Kuroo didn't hesitate hitting Bokuto's worst insecurities. Either way, Akaashi still felt like the third wheel in all of this, which ultimately was the biggest loss.

"Stop cockblocking my date."  
"Me? A cockblock? I would _never_." Akaashi glared at Kuroo, the two of them sitting face to face at a random ramen place Bokuto chose. Bokuto was now in the bathroom, leaving Akaashi and Kuroo by themselves. The amount of tension between them was ground shaking.

"How did you end up here anyway? I thought you were just gonna give Bokuto a comic book and go." Kuroo laughed loudly, even hitting the table a bit, shaking his head. Akaashi watched him, giving him a weird look.

"How cute. You think Bokuto reads." Akaashi gasped when he realized the great misjudgment he had made, chewing on his bottom lip. It seemed that he would be stuck as Bokuto and Kuroo's third wheel if this kept going.

"Well, can you at least stop talking about muggle stuff all the time? I can't comment on any of that stuff," Akaashi pleaded softly, looking a little desperate without meaning to. Kuroo raised an eyebrow at Akaashi, humming softly then shrugging which just made Akaashi glare at him harder.

"Isn't that up to Bokuto though? He's the one that's bringing stuff up. I'm just answering."

The comment made Akaashi shift a bit, something in the back of his mind telling him that Kuroo had a point. Bokuto probably didn't want to talk about magical stuff all the time when he his home was in the muggle world, right? But Bokuto was a wizard! And Akaashi was a wizard, and Kuroo too (he wouldn't be surprised at this point if Kuroo ended up in their relationship too without Akaashi's consent). What was wrong with talking a bit about magic so Akaashi could give a meaningful contribution to the conversation too?

"If you're so bothered by it, why don't you try learning more about the muggle world then?"

Akaashi's head lifted up, looking at Kuroo as if he said something offensive, but then his face softened when he realized Kuroo was right. This whole time Akaashi had been expecting Bokuto to focus the conversation on magic when right now he needed muggle support.   
Even though Akaashi didn't know shit, he would maybe learn a little more so that Bokuto could talk to him excitedly like that too.

"What're you guys talking about?" Bokuto came out of nowhere, startling Akaashi as he sat down beside him, giving Akaashi a kiss on the cheek. "Did you guys choose what you wanna eat yet?"

Kuroo proved himself to be a good person by not exposing Akaashi, ignoring Bokuto's first question and just pointing out things on the menu of what looked good. Akaashi was the first one to order while the other two were taking their sweet time.

"Don't order too much!" Bokuto hissed at Kuroo, turning his menu from the appetizers, making sure Kuroo doesn't order any. Kuroo scowled at him, slapping his hand and probably inwardly cursing at him. Akaashi had to apologize to the waiter.

"I don't have a lot of money, okay? I can only afford three bowls!" Kuroo rolled his eyes, finally ordering his own meal before Bokuto ordered last. The waiter bowed as she left them, reluctantly giving them a refill on water considering how fast they were drinking it for some reason. As if they didn't have water at home or something.

"If Kuroo didn't tag along, maybe we could've gotten appetizers," Akaashi mumbled under his breath bitterly, Kuroo scowling at Akaashi in response, but Bokuto just snorted, laughing at Kuroo.

"He's only staying with us because Kenma's hanging out with Hinata today." Kuroo kicked Bokuto under the table, earning a hiss from Bokuto and a hard kick back. Akaashi had to stop them because they were in a public restaurant and he couldn't handle this much embarrassment in one day.

"Shut up! Kenma has other friends and I respect that."  
"You respect it until you get lonely." Kuroo kicked Bokuto again, making Bokuto lean forward and hit him on the head. Kuroo gave him the finger as a response while Akaashi just sighed loudly, looking up at the ceiling and pretending he would disappear. 

Once the food came they shut up though, and Akaashi had never appreciated silence so much.

Finally, after the whole afternoon of loud fighting, unnecessary bruising and complaining from Bokuto, Kuroo had finally left them. It was now later in the evening, after hours of walking around the streets, watching street basketball, visiting the skating park despite not having a skateboard, buying some game console for Kenma that Akaashi recognized almost a little too quickly and watching the TV through the window of an electronic store - Akaashi didn't even know what 80% of those words meant, but he would make mental notes to remember what each and every term meant so he could bring them up later for Bokuto.

"Did you have fun?" Bokuto asked, the two of them making their way to the train station where Akaashi would take the train home, an hour and a half away from where Bokuto was. Sure, he could go home using magic, but Akaashi liked watching the scenery pass by him when he was on the train. It was a nice place to think.

"I did," Akaashi half lied between his teeth, smiling up at Bokuto. "I was glad that we could have at least one date over the summer. But I hope we can have even more in August."

Bokuto nodded in agreement, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. No one was around right now, so he took the opportunity to lean down to give Akaashi a soft kiss on the lips, wrapping his arms around Akaashi's waist. Akaashi responded well, humming in the kiss, putting his hands on Bokuto's neck and pulling him down. Bokuto seemed a little more passionate than usual, Akaashi needing to bend his back a bit as Bokuto pushed him down harder, but he didn't mind too much. He opened his mouth, Bokuto mimicking him and gently caressing his tongue on Akaashi's. Their innocent kiss easily got more heated, without even thinking Bokuto's hand wandering down to Akaashi's thigh.  
Akaashi responded to that as well, taking Bokuto's hand on his thigh and making Bokuto grab his ass.

"Wait-" Bokuto pulled away quickly, but still kept his hands on Akaashi, just moving them to go back to Akaashi's waist. It was obvious this was going somewhere else, but right now wasn't a good time.

"Sorry," Akaashi whispered, but he didn't sound sorry at all. "Was I going too fast?" Bokuto shook his head, resting his forehead against Akaashi, catching his breath for a bit. Akaashi was a good kisser, Bokuto wasn't sure where he learned it from and he was too scared to ask.

"No, it's not that, it's just," Bokuto panted softly, letting out a dry chuckle. "My place is far from here and you're almost 2 hours away, so," Bokuto shrugged, Akaashi grunting in a dissatisfying agreement. It was getting late too, by the time Akaashi was home the sun would be completely down. Now wasn't a good time, even though for both of them it never felt more right.

"Next time," Bokuto promised softly, adding a promising peck on Akaashi's lips, making Akaashi moan with frustration, but nodded anyway because he knew as well that it was the best option.  
No matter how badly he wanted to do something to Bokuto now.

"I'll walk you to your platform," Bokuto said, backing away completely now, just holding Akaashi's hand, but Akaashi pulled Bokuto closer so Bokuto now had his whole arm wrapped around his waist. 

"I can't believe people don't believe me when I say you make all the first moves," Bokuto mumbled under his breath. Akaashi smirked, planning to pretend to not hear Bokuto, but decided that seeing him a little bit teased.

"What do you want me to do, Bokuto-san? Grab your ass in front of everyone?" Akaashi raised an eyebrow at Bokuto, like he was testing him. Bokuto's face went pink, sputtering out nonsense before Akaashi stopped him with a quick kiss.

"It-It's not that specificall-""I'd do it." 

Akaashi held in a smile when Bokuto's flustered gibberish continued on his own, not being able to look at Akaashi properly. The sun's light was disappearing in the horizon and the street lights were on, but Akaashi could still see the redness in Bokuto's cheeks and neck.

"What's wrong, Bokuto-san? I think you have a nice ass."

Akaashi could see it. He wondered if Bokuto knew what he was doing too.

There was a family, a young couple with a toddler, a small little child who was holding a teddy bear, waiting on the platform. The toddler's mom was playing around with their child, a boy that obviously liked to play pretend in the big world of the small train stop. His mom kept laughing with him as his dad later joined when his son wouldn't leave him alone. Loud laughter and squeals echoed through the empty space, not many other people there, but the scene of the three member family was bright and fun and attractive.

Maybe that was why Bokuto was staring at them.

"Bokuto-san?" Akaashi got his attention again, Bokuto's eyes shifting from the scene of a small child having fun with his parents like there was nothing else in the world, no harm could be done to them and nothing to worry about.  
Akaashi gulped when he saw Bokuto's eyes watering.

"My train is coming," Akaashi said softly. Bokuto cleared his throat, nodding as he started to let go of Akaashi, feeling the ground shake as the train started approaching, the bright lights turning the corner, the metal tracks clacking louder and louder as the train got closer. Akaashi got his ticket out, but didn't let go of Bokuto even though Bokuto was starting to let go of him.

"I'll write to you tonight," Akaashi promised, leaning up to Bokuto to give him a kiss on the cheek. "You don't need to write to me till tomorrow if you can't. It'd be pretty late." Bokuto shook his head, bumping his forehead against Akaashi's. "No, I can write back. I think I'll be up late tonight anyway."

Akaashi didn't ask why, not wanting to waste time with a hesitant answer. Instead, as his train came to a stop, he leaned up and gave Bokuto another sweet kiss on the lips, nothing too intense, but just enough to get a message across. A message of love and promise - that Akaashi would always be there when Bokuto needed him.

"Good night, Bokuto-san. Get home safely," Akaashi gave him a small smile as he stepped on the train, the two still waving at each other as the train doors closed. Akaashi watched as Bokuto's body disappeared from his vision, trying to look out the window and of course, Bokuto didn't leave until Akaashi's train was gone completely. Akaashi could still see Bokuto waving until Akaashi couldn't see him anymore.

Sighing, Akaashi found a seat, leaning his head against the window and looking out, appreciating the little bit of muggle world that Bokuto lived in. He liked the houses, how the little lights lit up the streets and the artwork on the buildings (sometimes they said curse words, but Akaashi even liked those too. They were written so prettily!). Bokuto's world, though Akaashi wasn't there often, was very interesting.

In Akaashi's opinion though, Bokuto didn't belong with muggles.

His personality wasn't normal enough for them. Bokuto was too extraordinary, too gifted, too amazing for mere muggles to enjoy. The wizarding world was perfect for Bokuto, where he could go all out with his powers, enjoy life to the fullest, and most importantly, spend his life with Akaashi.

Later that evening, when Akaashi sat at his desk, staring at a Polaroid of him and Bokuto that was taken last summer, the only picture on his desk, and he started wondering what would it have been like if Bokuto wasn't a wizard. The thought made him shiver and shake his head, not wanting to think about it at all. It was disgusting, he would rather be muggle-born before thinking of Bokuto as a muggle himself.

Taking out a parchment and quill, Akaashi started writing his letter to Bokuto. Since they lived far apart - literally worlds away - writing to each other was the next best thing. 

_Bokuto-san,_

_I hope you got home safely. I'm in my room now, writing this letter and I couldn't help but start thinking about you. Today was very tiring, wasn't it? I hope that you weren't too drained. I hope you know that I think about you very often, and I hope you think about me too.  
Even though we weren't alone for the whole day, I was very glad to go on a date with you. Being with Bokuto-san is always the happiest moments in my life, so so far I've had many happy moments. I hope we can continue giving each other happy moments that will turn into happy memories. If that would be possible, I think I'd live the rest of my life without any complaints._

_I would like to go on more dates with Bokuto-san as well. I was thinking maybe you could visit my house again? I promise my mother is in Latvia, so we won't run into her again. There are many new things my father has bought for the new school year that you may be interested to see with me. We'd be in my room all day, if that makes you comfortable.  
The summer festival will take place in August, correct? It would be fun to go to that again. Maybe if Kuroo-san comes, Kenma could come as well? It would be a double date then.  
_

_Bokuto-san, I would like to ask you about the muggle world of yours. I am curious as to how you are able to live there for months without going absolutely insane. It seems almost ludicrous to think you could go a week just living without any magic to help you in your every day life, especially a great wizard like you. I hope you don't take offense to this, because I am genuinely curious.  
Is it alright if I start reading the comic books/manga you enjoy so much? I think I would be interested in reading them as well, if you could send them to me using my dad's owl. He's able to carry 5 textbooks at a time, so don't worry about it being too heavy!_

_Anyway, again, I just wanted to make sure you got home safe and know that I'm always thinking about you. The photo on my desk needs an update, so I was hoping we could use your muggle camera again to take it. I would treasure them both equally._

_Also, what would you think about me investing in a 'cellphone'? Kuroo-san said you two use it all the time to talk to each other, and they are more efficient unless it's for parcel. It would be nice to be able to hear Bokuto-san's voice any time of the day. Tell me what you think!_

_~Always thinking of you,_

_Yours,_

_Akaashi <3 _

_Hey, Akaashi!!!!!_

_I did get home safe, don't not worry! I guess so did you..._

_If you got a phone I would call you EVERY day to hear your voice. So you can think about it, I won't push you or anything, but it would be kinda cool, don't you think? But you don't have to get into muggle things for me, I know they don't really interest you._

_I put inside the bag the first 5 volumes of Inuyasha for you to read. Kuroo and I have been reading them together! I hope you like them, it's about a demon dog. Inuyasha kind of reminds of of Kageyama. I can't wait to hear what you think!!_

_Also, the summer festival this year would be fun to go to! We could do a double date with Kuroo, but I think it would be more fun with just the two of us <3 I hope you don't mind that too much. I think I'll buy you cotton candy (regular candy floss) and we could share it together! Hopefully Akaashi won't think it's sweeter than me HAHAHA._

_I love you so, so, so, so much Akaashi!!! I'll write back to you soon and hopefully see you before we have to write each other another letter!!_

_I love you <3 <3 <3_

_~~~~~~Your Koutarou <3 <3 _

_P.S. Oikawa's birthday was yesterday (July 20, I'm not sure when you'll get this letter) and Iwaizumi said he wanted to have a party for him. Would you be interested? It will be at Hogsmeade, I think Iwaizumi wanted to have a sleepover after. Kuroo will be there too! Let me know!!! Please!!!!!!_

_I love you_

_< 3 Koutarou_


	5. Asahi's Sisters

Date : August 1 1997

Time : 8:15 AM

Current Location : On the train, heading to the Azumane residency

Mission : Survive a whole weekend sleepover with Asahi and his lovely sisters.

Nishinoya was excited, bright eyed and bushy tailed as he practically danced onto the train platform. It didn't look that different from a wizarding train platform, the only big difference being the ticket so far. Muggle tickets had to be punched by an actual person and couldn't do it for itself, which Nishinoya thought was a little inconvenient, but he didn't have anyone to tell that to.

The reason Nishinoya was so excited and in the muggle world was because he finally got a free weekend, Friday to Sunday, to see Asahi. After a month of sending letters and daydreaming about seeing his boyfriend again, they finally found three whole days where both their schedules aligned. When they couldn't figure out which day was best to meet up, and the commute to each others houses was very long, Asahi suggested Nishinoya just sleep over the whole time so they could spend as much time with each other as possible, so at least if they didn't see each other the rest of the summer they at least had these memories.

Nishinoya was ready, game face on and lots of love prepared to throw at Asahi.

Muggles were weird though. He wasn't exactly sure why the Azumane family decided to stay in this world when the wizarding world was cooler and had a lot more things than just regular trains and regular brooms. But the address Asahi gave Nishinoya, he noticed, wasn't one he was familiar with, and after reading Asahi's description, Nishinoya realized he needed to get to the muggle world somehow first before actually getting to his house.

Wasn't that big of a problem, really. Except, Nishinoya didn't know too much about the muggles, and so some things, he wasn't sure how to react to.

"Sir, would you like to buy something?" Nishinoya looked up at the lady who asked, pushing a cart of food and drinks. He felt his stomach growling, his mouth watering a bit when he saw a lot of tasty looking food like hot soups and sandwiches. He did want to eat, and the smell of rice cakes was making his voice a little weaker.

"Uh, how much for a sandwich?""900¥." Nishinoya didn't know why he even asked because he didn't have any muggle currency, but he wasn't able to wake his parents up to make him breakfast, so now he his stomach was empty.

"Mm," Nishinoya took out from his pocket various galleons and sickles, currency he used in the wizarding world, holding it up helplessly. Even though they were gold and silver and shiny, the cart lady chuckled a bit and shook her head. "I'm sorry, we are unable to accept foreign currencies." Nishinoya deflated, putting them back in his pocket. "Oh, then forget it."

So he was starving for the rest of his ride, the hours passing by until 10:30 hit and finally Nishinoya ended up in the provinces, open wide fields and farm lands everywhere. The houses were several acres apart, the air was so fresh that he didn't realize just how polluted the world was.   
Following the directions Asahi gave him was quite easy since Asahi was very descriptive, taking every turn described - and Asahi was very considerate, not writing it in kanji, so Nishinoya didn't have a hard time reading it.

Nishinoya saw the bright 'Azumane' plaque on the front of a traditional house, a minka, displayed proudly. His heart started racing, sprinting to the house, standing in front of it with his chest puffed out. There was no doorbell, but there was a fancy door knocker that Nishinoya completely ignored and instead banged on the door with his fist hard, too eager to see Asahi after a whole month of deprivation.

Nishinoya did not expect a middle-aged man to come to the door first.

His breath hitched when he realized who it must be, gulping and standing straight so his posture would give off a good impression. The older man raised an eyebrow at Nishinoya, looking at him up and down.

"Can I help you?"

Nishinoya could feel sweat dripping down his forehead before he bowed aggressively, his arms glued to his side.

"Good morning! My name is Nishinoya Yuu! I'm from Hogwarts and I-""You're Asahi's boyfriend?" Nishinoya's eyes widened, standing up straight and looking at Asahi's father. He looked rather bored, uninterested in the greeting, but Nishinoya would later realize that that was just how he was.

"Yes, yes, come in," he sighed, opening the door wider for Nishinoya. "Let me take your bag. Asahi is still sleeping." Nishinoya was carrying a small duffel bag, planning to pretend he forgot clothes so he could wear some of Asahi's.

Obviously Nishinoya knew that Asahi lived with his parents. Asahi was a student too, after all. But he didn't really think about the type of people his family were, and he ever asked before. Maybe he should've though, because now Nishinoya wasn't sure how to act.  


"Your house is beautiful!" Nishinoya pretty much screamed, making Asahi's dad flinch, looking back at Nishinoya with a startled expression. Nishinoya gulped hard, just nervous, but maybe this man could tell.

"Thank you," Asahi's dad slowly took Nishinoya's bag, then pointing down the hallway. "Asahi's bedroom is the last door. It might take a while to wake him up, so if you want to eat just come out and his mom will make something for you, okay?" Nishinoya nodded, bowing again to his dad before watching him leave the hallway. He wondered where all these other doors led to, the house being much bigger inside than what it looked like outside. In the hallway there were at least 3 other doors, but Nishinoya was focused on just one.

"Asahi-san?" Nishinoya slid the door to Asahi's room open, peaking into it and seeing Asahi on the floor, sleeping soundly. The sight at first made Nishinoya gush, wanting to stay in the moment even longer, but little did he know it only got cuter.

In Asahi's hand was Nishinoya's last letter he sent to Asahi, looking like Asahi was reading it until he fell asleep, so now it was resting on his stomach. Asahi was on his back, his chest rising and descending slowly in the calmest way possible. In the other hand, Nishinoya noticed, was a photo of Nishinoya that Asahi took while watching one of the Quidditch games, but it wasn't Nishinoya on a broom flying around - it was just Nishinoya, smiling at the camera, looking into it with the regular eager excitement that Asahi said he loved about Nishinoya.

"Asahi-san!" Nishinoya screamed in his face, startling Asahi, shaking him awake. "Asahi-san, I'm here! Wake up, we have to spend all day together! Asahi-san, wake up!" Nishinoya took the letter and photo of himself out of Asahi's hands before sitting on his chest, bouncing up and down on him. Asahi was so shocked, he didn't have much time to react as Nishinoya was making it very obvious he arrived.

"Asahi-san! Asahi-san, wake up! Your boyfriend is here, wake up-""Noya-kun," Asahi groaned, rubbing his eyes and looking up, his blurry vision clearing up. When Nishinoya was clearly there, smiling down at him, Asahi couldn't help but smile back.

"Hm, my boyfriend _is_ here," Asahi chuckled, letting Nishinoya sit on his chest, but stretched his arms out before pulling Nishinoya into a hug. "I'm so happy."

A blush spread on Nishinoya's face, not being able to take Asahi's cuteness when he was half asleep because that made it even more cute. It wasn't fair that this was how Asahi greeted him when Nishinoya was supposed to be the cool one.

"If you're so happy then get up! We have to use all 72 hours we got being together! Come on, Asahi-san, let's go!" Asahi hummed, not letting go of Nishinoya, but then his eyes were falling again, yawning.

"5 more minutes," Asahi mumbled, his head falling to the side, but Nishinoya wasn't having any of it. He banged his head against Asahi's making Asahi groan in pain, letting go of Nishinoya so he could hold his head, right where Nishinoya hit.

"Ow! Okay, okay, I'm up.""Good! Now let's go eat something, I'm hungry!"

Asahi yawned again as he finally got up, right after Nishinoya got off of him of course, scratching his head as he went over to his drawer of clothes. It turned out that Asahi slept in a tank top and boxers over the summer, and Nishinoya realized he wasn't just starving for food.

"I missed you," Nishinoya mumbled, going over to back hug Asahi, squeezing him tightly. "I'm sorry my letters were so short. You know I'm too dumb to write long letters like you." Asahi couldn't help but chuckling at that, shaking his head, reaching his head back to pet Nishinoya's hair. He took out a shirt and some shorts to put on, having Nishinoya let go of him so he could put some clothes on.

"No, it's fine. I enjoyed every single one of them.""Enjoyed them enough to sleep with them?" Nishinoya teased, pointing to the letter and photo that Asahi dropped next to his futon where he slept. Asahi blushed, chuckling weakly before shrugging.

"I was so excited to see Noya-kun, so I ended up reading your letters. I wanted to see you so badly so I got your photo too. Sorry, is that weird?"

Nishinoya held in a scream, not wanting to disturb the rest of the household, but Nishinoya couldn't help it - his boyfriend was the most adorable thing ever created. He went over to Asahi, jumping on him, wrapping his legs and arms around him, Asahi didn't even need to try holding him up.   
Nishinoya started to attack Asahi with kisses over and over again, all around his face and on his neck, soft pecks that covered the surface of skin and made Asahi turn red, but he accepted every single kiss happily.

"If you keep doing that I might devour you," Nishinoya grumbled, nuzzling his face into Asahi's neck. "So do it some more, alright?""Do what?" Asahi tried looking down at Nishinoya, but Nishinoya was too busy kissing his neck to show his face.

"Being Asahi-san."

They were in that position for maybe another 10 minutes before Asahi persuaded him to step down so that they could eat something. Even though Nishinoya wanted to spend a little more time alone together, his stomach grumbling was definitely louder than his need for cuddles.

"What do you usually do in a day? I'd love to experience that!" Nishinoya exclaimed, watching Asahi fold his futon away neatly. He was cleaning up his room a little in the process, which Nishinoya admired greatly (yeah, Nishinoya didn't clean a lot).

"In a day? Well, we have a garden that I help my mom with," very Asahi, "and there's an animal shelter that I volunteer at over the weekends," screaming Asahi, "and then I help cook for my neighbours and the family. That's what I usually do over the summer." It was all Asahi - and it was all perfect! Even if there wasn't any magic, it wasn't like they were allowed to use it themselves over the summer anyway. Asahi did mention his dad was a wizard and worked for the Ministry of Magic under Agricultural Studies department (helping look for new potion ingredients, new wand wood material, stuff like that) so they might encounter some magic, but even if they didn't Nishinoya just wanted to spend his time with Asahi! 

"That sounds like fun!" Nishinoya cheered excitedly, making Asahi flash a smile at him. Seeing Nishinoya there with him made his heart all warm and fuzzy, Asahi wanted to express just how touched he was Nishinoya came all the way here for him.

"And my sisters join me sometimes to run errands, but I'm sure they won't disturb us too much."

This got Nishinoya's attention, turning his head up at Asahi, furrowing his eyebrows. "'Sister'?" Before Asahi could say anything his door slammed open, a young girl that resembled Asahi a lot, angrily staring at Asahi, a spatula in hand.

"Nii-chan, you said you were gonna help me with breakfast! It's almost lunchtime!" She screeched making both Nishinoya and Asahi flinch. Her eyes went from Asahi to Nishinoya, a disgusted look on her face as she pointed the spatula at Nishinoya.

"Who's that?" She asked in a rather rude way if you asked Nishinoya, and maybe Asahi agreed considering his disapproving tsk'ing, shaking his head at her. "That's not how you ask that question," Asahi scolded - if you could even call it that, his voice was so soft - going over to the door to the young girl, taking the spatula from her. "We're coming, okay? I'll finish making lunch to make it up to you." The girls eyes were still on Nishinoya, glaring at him hard, making Nishinoya shiver. What did he do to make her look at him like that?

"Fine," she huffed, turning around and looking back at Asahi. "But you better hurry up! We're all hungry!" Her voice was as loud as her stomping as she went down the hallway. Nishinoya thought he heard her scream 'nii-chan has a friend over!' but he didn't address that right away.

Asahi chuckled nervously, looking back at Nishinoya. "Sorry about her. She's a really sweet girl though, just a little aggressive," Asahi said, and of course Asahi would defend someone like her. Nishinoya looked back up at Asahi, a confused and shocked look on his face, his mouth slightly ajar.

"Si...You have a sister?""Sisters," Asahi corrected, holding up three fingers to Nishinoya which made his heart beat even faster, and not in the way it was earlier when he saw Asahi sleeping with a photo of Nishinoya.

"I have three sisters. I hope Noya-kun likes them. And I'm sure they'll all like Noya-kun very much too!"

Friday

Osahi was 13 years old, but had the personality that Nishinoya was sure Asahi was supposed to be born with.

She was the one in the morning, yelling at her brother to help her with the cooking, and without hesitating started hating on Nishinoya, making his life harder for no reason whatsoever.

It started when the family ate together, a crucial point for Nishinoya since this was the first meeting with all the Azumane family. Asahi's dad sat at the end of the table with his wife adjacent to him and Asahi on the other side, facing his mom. Nishinoya thought he had a perfect seat, sitting beside Asahi, but before he could even go down he was pushed to the side with an 'oof'. When he looked up to see who was responsible, he ended up glaring at Osahi, who innocently put down a bowl of rice in front of Asahi then sat down in what was supposed to be Nishinoya's seat.

"Uh, excuse me-""What?" She cut off aggressively, glaring right back at Nishinoya, which he didn't appreciate all that much, but Asahi was scolding her lightly already. Nishinoya still had to make a good impression, so he let Asahi teach her something.

"Osa-chan, don't talk to people like that. It's rude."

Was that it? Nishinoya was waiting for more, but it turned out Asahi didn't see Osahi literally shove Nishinoya to the ground just so he wouldn't sit beside her brother. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists, but when Asahi turned around and smiled at him his blood cooled down a bit.

"Noya-kun, are you going to take a seat?" Nishinoya bit his lip, holding in a scream while begrudgingly going to the other end of the table, probably the farthest seat from Asahi at the table, moodily eating his lunch.

Asahi had two other sisters, but right now his problem was Osahi.

"You think you're good enough for my brother?"

After lunch Nishinoya offered to help with the dishes, but Asahi assured him it was okay. So instead Nishinoya helped by chopping firewood in the backyard, having to use a big ax and a lot of strength. He didn't mind though, it was blowing off a lot of steam.

"Sorry?" Nishinoya panted, turning around to see Osami standing there, glaring hard into Nishinoya's soul, her arms crossed over her chest as she stomped closer to Nishinoya. He wanted to warn her that he had an ax in his hand, but with the way her skin turned red just by the sight of Nishinoya told him that she didn't exactly care what Nishinoya had in his hand.

"Nii-chan said you're his boyfriend. But I don't get what's so good about you," she scoffed, looking up and down at Nishinoya. It seemed she possessed the same height gene as Asahi, already being an inch taller than Nishinoya even though she was 2 years younger than him. Nishinoya didn't let it irk him though, because obviously there were other problems he needed to address.

"So you think you're good enough for my brother?"

Nishinoya hummed, putting his ax down, wiping the sweat off his forehead. She looked upset and mad even though Nishinoya hasn't done anything yet. Instead of getting mad back at her, he just shook his head.  
If the conversation was about Asahi and it wasn't saying anything bad about him, Nishinoya didn't think he could get mad.

"No, I don't think I am.""That's what I thought! Well, you're not good enough for-" She stopped talking when she realized Nishinoya's answer wasn't what she expected, widening her eyes at him.

"What?"  
"I said I don't think I'm good enough for your brother," Nishinoya repeated, so loud it was almost like he was yelling at her. "Asahi-san is kind and smart. He cares about other people and is very considerate. He's the exact opposite of me in a lot of ways," Nishinoya's mouth did a fond smile, giggling at the thought of Asahi. "I don't know why he likes me too. But if I don't grab this opportunity, then I'd be really stupid to let such a good man go."

Osahi sputtered in frustration, screaming as she turned around and stomped off. Nishinoya had a feeling this was just the start of a difficult family relationship with her, but he didn't mind.

If it was for Asahi, he would swim across the ocean just to see him smile.

"Wait, she's a Slytherin? I'm not surprised, but I've never seen her before..."

Later that evening, Asahi promised to take Nishinoya on a walk around the land, a dirt pathway that had an empty view of tall grass, the farm that the Azumane family owned and the sun setting, so Nishinoya stole one of Asahi's sweaters (which was way too big for him and he loved it).

"Well, we are three years apart and in different houses. Plus, she has to go to the girls dormitory and stuff, so that cuts our time a lot. I try to visit her and help her with her homework, but in the end we don't spend too much time together at school." Asahi said sadly, Nishinoya wanted to make him not sad anymore.

Even though Asahi didn't say it, Nishinoya had a feeling that Osahi was the reason Asahi ended up having his first girlfriend as a Slytherin instead of the Gryffindor boyfriend he deserved. It should've made him more upset, but the way Asahi talked so fondly about her, Nishinoya didn't know if he should be jealous or touched. 

"She tries to protect me a lot, so I end up looking like a poor older brother," Asahi laughed, but before Nishinoya could protest Asahi continued. "I appreciate it a lot. Sometimes I think it would've been better if we switched personalities. But then now when I think about it, I realize that if I was more like Osa-chan then Noya-kun wouldn't like me as much. Isn't that right?" Nishinoya was about to deny it, but he couldn't. If he ended up dating someone like Osahi - which was basically dating someone like Nishinoya - none of them would make it out alive.

"So I'm glad I'm not like her too much. Because what I'm like now is what made Noya-kun like me." Nishinoya stopped walking, Asahi stopping with him. He looked up at Asahi's face which was a little confused, waiting for Nishinoya to say something, but instead Nishinoya hugged Asahi tightly, pressing his face into Asahi's chest, humming softly. The hug took Asahi by surprise but he ended up hugging back, kissing the top of Nishinoya's head.

"You alright, Noya-kun?""I wanna sleep in your room tonight," Nishinoya looked up at Asahi again. "Can I?"

Even though the only light was the sun setting and the moon appearing slowly in the sky, Nishinoya could see the pink spreading across Asahi's face. He loved all sides of Asahi, there was no way he could deny that.

"Well, I thought you were going to sleep there in the first place," Asahi mumbled softly making Nishinoya smirk, raising his eyebrows at him. "Oh? Asahi-san, did you think of some things for the two of us to do during our sleepover?" Asahi's blush only darkened, shaking his head hard but Nishinoya was already on the teasing material, squeezing Asahi tighter so he wouldn't push him away.

"Why? I've been thinking about things to do with Asahi-san. I'm a man after all." The way Asahi whined in embarrassment made Nishinoya laugh, bumping his forehead against Asahi's chest.

"Aw, Asahi-san, don't be shy about it! You're hot, you have no rights to be shy!"

Saturday

Asami was 10 years old, and looked like Asahi in terms of face, but she was small in height and size. 

Asahi wasn't lying about volunteering at an animal shelter on the weekends, and even though he said it was okay if he skipped a day to entertain Nishinoya, Nishinoya insisted that they went so he could experience what Asahi's summer life was like. It shouldn't have been that surprising when they made it to the animal shelter and it ending up more like a sanctuary than a vet's office.

"Mi-chan, why don't you show Noya-kun your favourite animal?" Asahi encouraged his little sister, pushing her lightly to Nishinoya. Asami joined them for the day, not letting go of Asahi's hand the whole Saturday morning, so unfortunately Nishinoya wasn't able to hold Asahi's hand either, but she was quiet and cute so he didn't mind too much. Asami shyly reached her hand out for Nishinoya's, which Nishinoya took, letting Asami lead the way.

He was not expecting Asami's favourite animal to be a lion.

"Mi-chan! It's nice to see you today," one of the shelter employees greeted, looking up at Nishinoya and bowing in greeting. "And who's this? Your friend?" Asami nodded, looking up at Nishinoya, waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Right," Nishinoya realized a moment later, "sorry, I'm Nishinoya Yuu. I go to school with Asahi-san.""Ah, Asahi-kun. That's nice. Well, go on and meet with Mr. Lion then, Mi-chan. He's been waiting all week for you to visit."

Nishinoya wasn't scared of lions or anything, he was just shocked when Asami didn't hesitate going inside the lion's pen, holding onto Nishinoya calmly before approaching it with a slab of meat, feeding the big, adult lion like it was a dog. Nishinoya wanted to laugh at the differences between her and Asahi, yet how the demeanor and gentle spirit was too much alike.  
He also knew now why Asahi didn't join them to see Asami's favourite animal.

"You know," Nishinoya leaned down, whispering in Asami's ear. "Noya-nii-chan's patronus is a lion! Just like this one."

Seeing Asami's eyes widen and her squeal of excitement let Nishinoya know she understood what he was talking about, laughing as she started talking more to Nishinoya, breaking out of shell, asking a bunch of questions all of a sudden.

"It roars loud?"  
"The loudest roar there is!" Nishinoya exaggerated the answer a bit since he didn't really know because he's only summoned the patronus once, but it seemed to make Asami delighted at how Nishinoya's patronus met all the requirements for a good lion.

When they were walking home, Asami was talking all about how Nishinoya's patronus looked like Mr. Lion to Asahi, and later Asahi would ask all sorts of questions, but right now he was pretending to understand the gibberish coming out of Asami's mouth.

"'Raaaaawr' - like that, nii-chan! And Noya-nii-chan said it was so, so, so big! I wanna see it!" Asahi chuckled, nodding a bit, giving Nishinoya some side looks, but decided to just let Asami talk as much as she wanted until he tucked her into bed tonight.

"Well, maybe if you ask nicely, Noya-kun will show you." Asami's eyes went wide, looking up at Nishinoya with pleading eyes, Nishinoya wasn't sure why Asahi would say something like that. He couldn't avoid her begging though, nodding slowly and petting her head. Even the length of her hair was close to Asahi's.

"Alright, but not now. We can't do magic outside of Hogwarts and I don't even have my wand." Asami pouted but she nodded understandingly, walking the whole way home holding both Asahi's and Nishinoya's hand.

Asahi tucked her in bed later that night, going back to his own bedroom where Nishinoya was already clean from a shower, futon out and laying down, waiting for Asahi to join him. Asahi took a bath earlier too, so both of them could just go to sleep now, but the way Nishinoya was looking at all of Asahi's books told him Nishinoya had a lot of questions.

"How do you read all of them?" Nishinoya asked in awe as he inspected the different fictional novels, the light reads and the textbooks. There were even complicated kanjis Nishinoya hasn't seen before, and to top it off English books (or at least Nishinoya was sure it was English) with blank covers so he couldn't even guess what they were about. Asahi just chuckled, sitting down next to Nishinoya and taking one of the books, showing Nishinoya the inside and how Asahi had notes written in them, parts highlighted and even some sticky notes bookmarking places.

"I use a dictionary sometimes when I don't understand. Then I write notes on some parts to make sure I remember," Asahi explained putting the book down before leaning in and wrapping his arms around Nishinoya. The smaller of the two started leaning back until his back hit the ground, laying down completely, Asahi's head on his chest. Nishinoya's hands trailing on Asahi's back.

"You alright, Asahi-san?""Yeah, just tired," Asahi mumbled, inhaling sharply and then sighing on Nishinoya's chest. "I think Mi-chan likes you." Nishinoya hummed, staring up at the cieling. Asahi had his room charmed so that it matched the night sky, so they could see the stars right now.

"Your birthday is on New Year, right?" Asahi nodded, yawning a bit and snuggling closer to Nishinoya. "Why?""I wanna spend it with you, of course!" Nishinoya answered right away making Asahi chuckle a bit and nod again in Nishinoya's chest.

"Alright, alright, I hear you," Asahi didn't lift his head up, but Nishinoya was grinning up at the stars, twirling a strand of Asahi's hair with his finger.

"What do you want for your birthday, Noya-ku-""A ring!"

Sunday

Hanahi was 7 years old, but already more handicap-able than Nishinoya would ever be.

She could cook, clean, start a fire, read a complex book, do high grade level math and Nishinoya was pretty sure that when she started attending Hogwarts, she'd be one of the best witches there were.

Yet her favourite thing to do, was sew.

"Then you put it in, and out, and through, and out again," she tried showing Nishinoya, and even though Nishinoya was watching intensely, when he tried it on his own piece of cloth he ended up pricking himself again, having to suck the blood off. He tried multiple times, but Hanahi was on her third coin purse while Nishinoya was still trying to sew two ends together.

"This is annoying," Nishinoya hissed, throwing the cloth on the ground, Hanahi just giggling, watching Nishinoya frustrated. She picked the cloth up again, giving it to Nishinoya, which he did take but it didn't do anything with it.

"Nii-chan taught me. Maybe you should get lessons from him," Hanahi suggested innocently, and it didn't sound like a bad idea, but Nishinoya was fairly certain that such a situation would just end in a make out session - he couldn't tell a 7 year old that though.

"I want to make dresses, but mama always has work no one ever wants to help me," Hanahi pouted, making Nishinoya perk up a bit. If he couldn't sew with Hanahi, maybe he could help her with something else then. If it meant earning her favour, then Nishinoya didn't mind whatever it is she needed. It was probably just someone to hold her needle or something, right?

"Do you want me to help you?" Hanahi's face lit up, nodding her head enthusiastically. Nishinoya thought he'd done something good and found a way to appeal to an already talented young lady.

Nishinoya didn't think he was going to end up in a skirt.

"Tight?" Hanahi asked, Nishinoya's face bright red in embarrassment, not remembering how he ended up in such a situation. The skirt was flowy with a flower print and very pink. Since it was going on Hanahi the length was more on the shirt side, and honestly, Nishinoya didn't want to look in the mirror and see if it 'looked pretty'. He coughed awkwardly, shaking his head.

"N-No," he sighed, Hanahi clapping in response as she started sewing the back while the skirt was still on Nishinoya. It was embarrassing, and Nishinoya's body felt very hot with shame - if Nishinoya's ancestors saw him right now, what would they be saying?

"Hana-chan, have you seen Noya-"

Asahi's eyes widened when he saw his boyfriend in a very short, pink skirt, standing there in the middle of his little sister's bedroom as his little sister tailored the skirt from the back. Both of them went red, Nishinoya already stuttering out excuses.

"Wa-Wait, Asahi-sa-" Asahi slammed the sliding door closed, covering his face with both hands as he felt the redness spread from his face to his neck and probably the rest of his body the longer he stood there. He could hear Nishinoya on the other side of the door groaning all flustered, but Asahi couldn't bring himself to open the door again, scared of what Nishinoya would look like.

"Wait, Asahi-san!" Nishinoya screaming, but Asahi was already walking back to his bedroom, feeling a weird twisting in his stomach as he shut the bedroom door quickly, trying to take deep breaths as his flustered face only heat up more every time he pictured it again.

Why did Nishinoya actually not look that bad in it though?

"Asahi-san!" Nishinoya slammed Asahi's door open, back in his regular shorts, but Asahi yelped in surprise anyway, looking away and pretending like Nishinoya wasn't there. "Look at me! I was just helping your sister-""No, no, it's fine! I didn't see anything! I really didn't see anything!" Asahi insisted, but now Nishinoya was crossing his arms, frowning down at Asahi.

"Hey. Are you saying I looked ugly in that skirt?"

Asahi wasn't sure how that was Nishinoya's conclusion, but it did make him less flustered, looking up at Nishinoya properly now, removing his hands from his face. He was cooling down, but his cheeks were still slightly flushed. Nishinoya was glaring down at him, leaning closer so that their faces were inches apart.

"No-Noya-kun is never ugly!" Asahi said quickly making Nishinoya grin, nodding in approval. It was like he completely forgot about the skirt, pulling Asahi's arms away from his face and dropping onto Asahi's lap, making himself comfortable. "That's right! Asahi-san is never ugly too," Nishinoya cooed happily, leaning up to kiss Asahi's cheek.

Asahi was a bit confused at the sudden change of attitude, but if he looked at the back of Nishinoya's neck, he could see Nishinoya was still red too. Nishinoya was probably still embarrassed too, but he was covering it up quite nicely by being his normal, outgoing self so Asahi wouldn't feel as awkward. Asahi tried his best not to get too excited, biting his lip hard as Nishinoya leaned back on Asahi's chest.

"I was just helping Hanahi. It's not that big of a deal."

Asahi made a strangled whimpering sound, nodding his head even though Nishinoya couldn't see it. He didn't know if he wanted to get rid of the memory or keep it locked away in a charm so that only he could see it.

Sunday evening Asahi dropped Nishinoya off at the train station to see him off. It was a bittersweet goodbye, the two agreeing that they would meet again before the school year started so they could have some time alone. 

"Did you have fun?" Asahi asked, Nishinoya nodding in response. Even though Asahi's house was busy, it explained a lot as to how he was able to be the way he was and how he was able to handle Nishinoya so well. Asahi wasn't the stereotypical older brother, he wasn't tough by nature nor was he scary at all in any situation that Nishinoya's seen yet, but he was compassionate and practical. Asahi was a good older brother and a selfless person all together.

Nishinoya would prove stupidity subjective if he were to let Asahi go.

"Where should we go next?" Nishinoya asked, the two of them waiting for Nishinoya's train to come. "You can visit me in the wizarding world, can't you? My mom would love to meet you." Asahi's face lit up, nodding enthusiastically. It was important for him too that he met Nishinoya's family and asked for their blessing, he sort of wished he did it sooner.

"I'll try," Asahi promised, since his house was far from any city in general, it might be a bit hard for Asahi to get to the wizarding world and back without having to ask someone for help to do the magic for him. Asahi was scared of Floo powder, but he wouldn't tell Nishinoya he had some at home.

"You're gonna be in your 6th year..." Nishinoya said softly, holding Asahi's hand tightly and not showing any sign of letting go. "And then your 7th. Then you'll graduate," Nishinoya sighed, his voice getting a bit more sad that it hit Asahi late why Nishinoya was bringing this up.

"I'll still visit you. And we'll still be together," Asahi reassured him quickly, watching as Nishinoya's bright face dimmed, but he didn't look completely dejected yet. Asahi pulled him in for a hug, kissing Nishinoya's forehead.

"That's a long time from now anyway, alright? Don't think about that right now," though the thought made Asahi anxious as well. His priority was Nishinoya and his worries though, so he tried his best to be the stronger one.

"It's just a year," he added, making Nishinoya nod barely, sighing louder. "Yeah, I guess you're right," Nishinoya mumbled, looking up at Asahi, forcing a smile. "It's just, Asahi-san has such a bright future! I don't wanna be left behind, that's all."

Asahi's heart dropped and he hugged Nishinoya even tighter, shaking his head. Nishinoya worried too sometimes, it seemed. And if Asahi could do anything to put his mind at ease, he would do it.

"I don't want a future if it's not with Noya-kun."

Nishinoya's head snapped up, his eyes wide at Asahi. The words hit him like lightening, sending chills down his spine, gulping with a mix of shock and excitement. When Asahi said it like _that_ it changed the game a little bit.

"You said it! You said it, you can't take it back!" Nishinoya shouted in Asahi's face, making Asahi shocked but he laughed as he saw Nishinoya get excited again. The train started coming, but Nishinoya didn't let go yet.

"We're gonna have a future together, alright, Asahi-san?! Promise me!" Asahi nodded right away, a little intimidated and definitely scared of what would happen if he said no, even if he would just be teasing Nishinoya.  
Asahi couldn't his picture his future with anyone else, seriously speaking. 

"Yes, Noya-kun, we can even spend our next lives together if you want to." The statement made Nishinoya squeal in excitement, nodding in agreement. The train was coming to a stop, Asahi slowly but reluctantly letting go of Nishinoya.

"For now though, let's focus on the 'together' that's happening now. Our future will happen in it's own time."


	6. Oikawa's Fever

Date : August 5 1997

Time : 2:34 PM

Current Location : Oikawa Tooru's bedroom

Mission : Help Oikawa get through his fever - his moody, disgusting, stubborn fever.

Oikawa did it. He finally got Iwaizumi to agree to go on a date with him. After months of tutoring, giving Iwaizumi time to think, making new friends and most importantly, reminding Iwaizumi that Oikawa genuinely did like him, Iwaizumi finally agreed to go on one date that would differ from all the other times they would hang out together. Oikawa translated it to kissing when it was all over and start calling themselves boyfriends.

There were rules though. Iwaizumi made it very clear that Oikawa and him weren't exclusive just yet because he wanted to make sure their parents approved, but Oikawa was sure his mom and dad would rather Iwaizumi than some other random girl they had to get to know. Iwaizumi also reminded Oikawa that it wouldn't just be all fluff and cuddles, that being a couple meant they had to go through thick and thin together, being there for each other when it mattered most and telling each other what was on their minds even if it was difficult.  
Honestly, all Oikawa heard was 'couple' and agreed with the rest blindly.

How was Oikawa supposed to know he would get sick like this on the day of their first date?

"I told you," Iwaizumi scolded him, wiping Oikawa's forehead with a cold towel as Oikawa coughed in his fist. "Just because Kuroo does it doesn't mean you should do it too."

After some moving of schedules around, Iwaizumi was able to get everyone to come over for a sleepover for Oikawa's birthday a little over a week after Oikawa's actual birthday. Even though it was late, everyone greeted him and still gave Oikawa the same amount of attention. They got him gifts, three of them brought a cake not knowing if there would be one, and the whole group of them spent a day fooling around in Hogsmeade before going to Oikawa's house for the sleepover.

"If Kuroo can run around naked in a cornfield while getting water balloons thrown at him then so can I-" Oikawa coughed some more, not being able to hold it in. Everything was blurry, his head was pounding and spinning at the same time and his throat was so sore even though he barely had anything to eat. His stomach was eating itself at this point despite Iwaizumi bringing him soup and porridge every few hours to make sure there was something in his system.

"Yeah, well, Kuroo isn't sick. You feel stupid now, don't you?" Iwaizumi sighed as Oikawa whimpered, closing his eyes again as Iwaizumi wiped the sweat on Oikawa's neck. It felt like his fever was getting higher, but Oikawa got hit that day, so maybe it wasn't something to worry about too much.

"I should've just let Bokuto do it," Oikawa huffed with a raspy voice. No matter how many times Iwaizumi told him to write whatever he wanted to say down, Oikawa refused and insisted he could still talk. "I could've played the birthday card. Kuroo, that fucking bastard."

Oikawa's birthday party was fun though, Oikawa did think that. He didn't think there would be so many people celebrating him before, and really it was thanks to Iwaizumi. If he didn't organize and plan everything then Oikawa would be spending another birthday with Iwaizumi only - not a bad thing, obviously. But to be surrounded by so many people, Oikawa hated to admit that it felt nice.

"Just get some rest," Iwaizumi pushed Oikawa down on the bed, making him lay down, which Oikawa didn't protest to. "I'll bring you something to eat when you wake up, okay?" Oikawa coughed again, nodding his head slowly as he closed his eyes, not being able to keep them open anyway.

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa called out weakly as Iwaizumi started leaving Oikawa's room. He turned around, looking down Oikawa. "Sorry I got sick. We can't go on our date anymore."

Iwaizumi just sighed, shaking his head as he watched Oikawa's body relaxing, going to sleep almost immediately. If Iwaizumi thought about it, it's been a while since Oikawa got sick like this, so maybe all the germs were hitting his immune system at once. It didn't mean Iwaizumi liked watching Oikawa like this tough.

"Stupid," Iwaizumi went over, stroking a strand of hair from Oikawa's face. "We can go on a date anytime you want." 

"Kuroo and Bokuto sent a get well soon card. You want me to read it to you?"  
"Not really."

Iwaizumi sat down next to Oikawa's bed, now sometime in the evening, Oikawa's parents not home yet so Iwaizumi took the responsibility of taking care of Oikawa again - nothing he wasn't used to.

"'Piece-of-shit-Tooru-'""I said don't read it," Oikawa groaned but Iwaizumi was already holding the card out. There was nothing special to it, no moving pictures or fireworks that burst out when you opened it. It was just a regular piece of paper with writing on it, but Iwaizumi assumed that it was just so they wouldn't disturb Oikawa when he was already feeling sick.

"'We heard you got sick. Is it because I said you couldn't swim 5 laps around the pond while wearing shoes? That wasn't our fault, I think you should blame Terushima for actually doing it.' Kuroo's writing this by the way," Iwaizumi added, Oikawa grunting in disinterest before Iwaizumi continued reading. "'We didn't mean to make you sick as a birthday present, so we hope you still like the actual present we got you. Even though it's used in the muggle world, we hope you can find some use for it.' What did they get you again?" Oikawa huffed, rubbing his eyes but regretting it instantly when they started stinging. When he didn't answer Iwaizumi just kept reading the card. "'Anyway, we hope you get better soon so we can meet up. Bokuto and I go to something called a 'summer festival' every year here in the muggle world. You and Iwaizumi could join us. It lasts 2 weeks, so choose your excuses of refusals wisely. Drink lots of water, eat hot food. Signed Kuroo and Bokuto.'" Iwaizumi put the card down and took out the parcel the card came with, opening it carefully. It wasn't Oikawa's birthday present, but rather something else to help with his sickness.

"Look, they got you a colouring book," Iwaizumi snickered, showing it to Oikawa, who just scowled and pushed the childish present away. He knew they were just trying to be funny, indirectly calling Oikawa a kid, but he didn't have enough energy to get offended.

"Bokuto didn't write anything?" Oikawa asked, his voice still barely there, croaking out. Iwaizumi looked at the card again, scoffing. "He did, but I can't read his writing," Iwaizumi said, squinting down at the card. Bokuto's writing looked like chicken scratch and there was barely any kanji so it all looked jumbled up. Oikawa reached his hand out and Iwaizumi gave him the card, not sure if Oikawa would be able to read it either.

"'Tooru-kun, please get better. And come to the summer festival like Kuroo said. He took all the good words from my message, but I want you to get healthy again too. I'm sorry for telling you that ketchup tasted like a smoothie when it's warmed up and making you drink the packets I had in my pocket. I won't do it again. Koutarou-kun.'" Oikawa coughed, giving the card back to Iwaizumi, who was looking at Oikawa with an impressed expression.

"How-""He has the same handwriting I had when I was 8," Oikawa waved his hand before snuggling back into his blankets. "Being able to read Bokuto's handwriting is a skill. Praise me."

On a regular day, Iwaizumi would roll his eyes and hit Oikawa on the head, telling him that it wasn't a skill worth praising Oikawa over. But today wasn't a regular day, so Iwaizumi let Oikawa rest his eyes, petting his hair softly.

"Good job, being able to read Bokuto's writing," Iwaizumi cooed in an overly sweet voice, making Oikawa smile a bit. Maybe he couldn't hear the sarcasm, but Iwaizumi liked to think that Oikawa was actually happy hearing the words 'good job' coming from Iwaizumi's mouth.

"Now get some rest. I'll come back in the morning.""What?" Oikawa opened his eyes, looking up at Iwaizumi with a depressed expression, holding his hand out and trying to grab Iwaizumi. "You're leaving?" Iwaizumi shifted where he stood, nodding slowly. "Well, yeah. Your parents are gonna be back soon. I'm just gonna clean up the kitchen and then-" Oikawa groaned, cutting Iwaizumi off suddenly. Iwaizumi sighed, about to tell Oikawa he couldn't stay with him forever, but Oikawa was already running his mouth.

"My first date with Iwa-chan was ruined and now he's leaving me. I never thought I could feel this much sadness.""Oi, it's not my fault you got sick." Iwaizumi snapped back sharply, making Oikawa gasp in offense, turning around in his bed and covering himself with the blanket. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes hard, gritting his teeth as he went back to Oikawa's bed and hit the top of his head hard.

"Ow! I'm a sick person, how could you-""I'll stay until you fall asleep, okay?" Oikawa slowly lifted the blanket off of himself, looking up at Iwaizumi suspiciously, probably wondering if Iwaizumi was lying to him just to get him to shut up. When Iwaizumi seemed serious, Oikawa nodded.

"Good," he said, watching Iwaizumi start to walk out of his room again, taking the dishes from Oikawa's previous meals away. "And I expect a goodnight kis-" Iwaizumi slammed Oikawa's bedroom door loudly.

The next day, Iwaizumi came back at 8 AM, the time when Oikawa's parents left for work so that he could take care of him.

"His fever got worse," Oikawa's mom warned Iwaizumi. "Really, Hajime-kun, you don't need to be here. I can take a day off." Iwaizumi refused, insisting that it was the summer and he had nothing to do anyway, but of course Iwaizumi wouldn't tell her the real reason why he wanted to stay with Oikawa for literally the whole day even if he was asleep half the time. 

"You're such a good kid, Hajime-kun. Honestly, if you were my son I wouldn't pray as much as I do for Tooru-chan."

'Do you know I masturbate to the thought of your son?' Iwaizumi held back the comment, not wanting that be the way he asked Oikawa's mom for her blessing to date her son. Besides, even though Oikawa's parents thought of him like a son already, he doubted they would think it was funny to make those sort of jokes (even though masturbating was not a joke, especially when it was to Oikawa).

"Oikawa?" Iwaizumi knocked on Oikawa's door, stepping in quietly when he saw Oikawa was still asleep. He noticed right away that Oikawa had a lot of books spread out on his floor and bed, some regular fiction books that Oikawa probably read for his own entertainment, but there were also textbooks in their 6th year level that Iwaizumi bought for them. Every year Iwaizumi would buy the textbooks early to get a head start on the material and Oikawa would tell him he was a huge nerd, but it seemed that Oikawa was considering becoming a nerd too.

"Iwa-chan?" Oikawa groaned, even hearing his voice Iwaizumi could hear the pain Oikawa was experiencing. Iwaizumi hushed him, going over to the bed, taking the cold towel on the side desk that his mom must've used earlier, wiping Oikawa's forehead. "Iwa-chan-""Shh, I'm here. Go back to sleep, okay? I'm here," Iwaizumi said softly, watching as Oikawa nodded weakly, unable to stay awake and going back to sleep almost instantly.

Iwaizumi sighed in relief that Oikawa didn't put up a fight, but kept wiping Oikawa's forehead and neck. It felt like his fever did get worse when Iwaizumi touched his skin, his fingers burning with Oikawa. He wondered how bad the pain was for him, but probably wasn't saying anything about the pain no one could see and only Oikawa could feel. Iwaizumi just shook his head as he finished wiping the sweat off of Oikawa's upper body, taking his shirt off so he could cool down his chest and back too.

Oikawa didn't wake up as Iwaizumi wiped his whole upper half, dragging the damp, cold towel across his body and neck before putting a clean shirt on him and laying him back down. Iwaizumi looked at him, wondering what Oikawa was dreaming about.

"Iwa....Chan...." Oikawa groaned in his sleep making Iwaizumi freeze in his place, gulping. He watched as Oikawa's body twitched under the blankets, his sweat dripping again even though Iwaizumi just wiped him down.

"Iwa....Chan..." Oikawa whispered again, his voice light as air and his breathing soft as a feather, the name casually escaping his lips yet made Iwaizumi's body feel heavy. What exactly was he dreaming about? Now Iwaizumi wanted to know.

"Don't....leave..." 

Iwaizumi gulped, his hand going down to Oikawa's face without thinking, caressing his cheek. It didn't look like a nightmare, but he guessed it wasn't that Oikawa was scared anymore - he was just learning how to let go.

"Stupid," Iwaizumi mumbled, leaning down to kiss Oikawa's forehead. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Tendou sent you something. Want me to open it for you?"  
"Was Tendou invited to the party?"  
"No, he just joined in the middle of it when he saw us at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, remember? He didn't even know your birthday passed until the next day."

Iwaizumi woke Oikawa up around 10 AM to eat something, bringing him up some miso soup so Oikawa had something in his system and hopefully regain some strength today. 

"Here," Iwaizumi opened the plastic bag, taking out the contents inside and showing it to Oikawa. "That's nice, he made you a juice. He said it has 'healing properties' and must be drank only after eating. So maybe you can try it after finishing your soup.""Ugh," Oikawa shook his head, giving the bottle of green juice that Tendou packed up in a cute pink package with hearts on it a disgusted look.

"I don't trust it if Tendou made it."

Iwaizumi dug through the bag a little more, taking out a small piece of paper. "Want me to read the note?""Not really." Iwaizumi ignored him, clearing his throat as he opened up the folded paper.

"'Tooru-kun, I heard you got sick. I made you some healthy, pure, vegetable and fruit juice to help you get some of your strength back. Don't worry, all the ingredients I used to make it was taken from Ushiwaka's garden, so they're all fresh and safe! Sorry I crashed your party, by they way'-""He crashed it?" Oikawa cut off the letter, getting Iwaizumi's attention. "I thought you let him join.""Well, he just followed. I'm sure no one really cared that he joined," Iwaizumi shrugged, Oikawa nodding and letting Iwaizumi continue. "'Sorry I crashed your party, by the way. I didn't realize it was your birthday and I thought it was funny when Yahaba-kun was shirtless in an ice cream parlour'-""Why was Yahaba shirtless again?" Oikawa asked quietly, his mind seemingly fuzzed by his fever so his memories of the party were a little scattered. Hopefully he would remember a little more when he got better.   
"Him and Bokuto were comparing their abs.""And who won?" Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow, letting out a soft chuckle. "Does it matter?" Oikawa didn't answer, staying quiet so Iwaizumi could finish the letter.  
"'I didn't realize it was your birthday and I thought it was funny when Yahaba-kun was shirtless in an ice cream parlour'," Iwaizumi continued on. "'I'll buy you a proper gift when school starts again. Take care! Tendou Satori.'" Iwaizumi put the letter down and sat on the edge of Oikawa's bed, putting the miso soup on his lap and starting to mix it together again to get ready for Oikawa to eat. Oikawa just grimaced, shaking his head.

"Come on, you have to eat," Iwaizumi urged, but Oikawa shook his head more. "No. I don't wanna drink Tendou's 'healing juice'." Oikawa groaned, staring at the green liquid in the pink bottle, shivering at the thought of the taste. "I don't know if I could trust it."

Iwaizumi just rolled his eyes, getting a spoonful of miso soup and holding it to Oikawa's mouth, waiting for him to open his mouth. When Oikawa still refused, Iwaizumi gave him a stern look that finally worked, but Oikawa was complaining the whole time.

"If I end up even more sick, it's your fault," Oikawa coughed in his fist, Iwaizumi getting a tissue and handing it to Oikawa. Oikawa wiped his mouth, laying back down and shaking his head. "Iwa-chan, really. I can't eat anymore. I'm not lying."

That's what scared Iwaizumi a little more, the fact that Oikawa was getting more vulnerable by the day. He couldn't push Oikawa too hard, but he still needed to toughen Oikawa out of this fever.

"Just a few more bites," Iwaizumi insisted, trying to get Oikawa to sit up again. "I won't make you drink Tendou's healing juice."

Oikawa begrudgingly sat up, sighing dramatically but Iwaizumi got a few more bites out of him. When Oikawa said he was tired, laying down again, Iwaizumi made him drink half a cup of water before leaving his room. He decided to help the Oikawa family out a bit by cleaning around the kitchen and living room, probably chores Oikawa was supposed to do.

"Thank you so much, Hajime-kun," Oikawa's dad tried to hand him some money but Iwaizumi refused it quickly. Oikawa's parents were home now, so it meant that Iwaizumi's shift was over and now he had to go home.  
He wanted to say goodbye to Oikawa, but felt a bit awkward explaining to his parents how he would be saying bye to a sleeping person.

"Tell your mom I'll send some food over tonight," Oikawa's mom called out as Iwaizumi left their house, waving off. He didn't think it was necessary for them to see him off since Iwaizumi's house was just a few houses down, but they still always walked him to the front door.

"Yes ma'am," Iwaizumi bowed to them before he walked down the street, looking up at the night sky. Was he really there all day taking care of Oikawa? The time felt a lot shorter.

He hoped when he asked Oikawa's parents for their blessing they wouldn't ask why Iwaizumi would date someone like Oikawa, because sometimes Iwaizumi didn't know the answer himself completely - but all he knew was that when he got home that day he spent a lot of time in the shower thinking about Oikawa.

"Don't look-" Oikawa puked in the bowl Iwaizumi was holding, his face flushed red. 

Even though his temperature was going down, Oikawa was still suffering from some mild after symptoms of his fever, like coughing, sore throat and not being able to eat as much as he usually did. He could eat solid food again though, which was enough for Iwaizumi.

"Not until you finish."  
"But I'm disgus-" Oikawa started puking in the bowl again, holding the sides of the bowl, his hand on Iwaizumi's as he let everything out. Even though it was gross, Iwaizumi didn't see it as shameful or anything. Oikawa was sick, it wasn't like he could help it.

"Iwa-chan, don't look," Oikawa whined, but Iwaizumi ignored his request, shaking his head as he took the bowl, heading to the bathroom so he could flush Oikawa's puke down the toilet and clean out the bowl. He knew Oikawa was feeling embarrassed with his condition, but he was so close to getting better that Iwaizumi refused to leave his side now. 

"I'm sorry I'm gross," Oikawa grumbled when Iwaizumi came back. Iwaizumi started wiping Oikawa's mouth before taking out a bowl (a different one of course) of water, a toothbrush and toothpaste, giving it to Oikawa. 

"Brush your teeth. Your mouth must taste gross."

Oikawa obeyed silently as Iwaizumi stood there with the bowl of water, watching Oikawa brush his teeth aggressively, spitting in the bowl and rinsing his mouth. When Iwaizumi deemed Oikawa's mouth clean he took the toothbrush and toothpaste from his hands.

Then Iwaizumi leaned down and kissed Oikawa on the mouth.

"What-" 

It happened so fast, Oikawa didn't catch it quick enough, the quick peck on his lips tingling even when Iwaizumi pulled away. His eyes were wide, looking up at Iwaizumi, but his face was indifferent as he cleaned up Oikawa's things and took it out of the room, planning to come back with more food since Oikawa decided to puke up his lunch.

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa held his throat as it strained, but he needed to get Iwaizumi's attention. It didn't quite work when Iwaizumi left the room completely, probably not going to come up until he's made Oikawa another meal which would take at least another 30 minutes. Oikawa wanted answers and another kiss, but in his condition he still didn't have a chance making it down the stairs without the high chance of fainting.

Instead, Oikawa touched his lips, still feeling Iwaizumi's on his, though it was for a very brief moment. His heart was beating out his chest and his temperature was rising again. Of course Oikawa would fall on his bed, letting out a blissful sigh.

If Iwaizumi still wanted to kiss Oikawa right after vomitting his guts out, maybe Oikawa did have a chance.

"You got something from Akaashi-kun and Kenma."  
"Kenma is the blond one, right?"

When Oikawa asked about the kiss Iwaizumi would pretend he didn't hear him - classic Iwaizumi. He would think that by now Iwaizumi would be a little more courageous and take responsibilities for his actions, but so far all Iwaizumi has done since after the kiss was make Oikawa eat by himself and drink a full glass of water. Even though Iwaizumi just wanted to make sure Oikawa was back to health, it didn't make Oikawa less annoyed that Iwaizumi was completely avoiding the subject.

"Kuroo's boyfriend," Iwaizumi nodded in confirmation, showing Oikawa the letter and the tied up cloth that held containers of food, including traditional snacks like onigiri and rice cakes, and some fun little meals like omurice and curry. There were at least 5 different bento containers, Oikawa wondered if the owl that sent it had a tough time flying to Oikawa's house.

"Are you my boyfriend now, Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi pretended like he didn't hear him, sitting down at Oikawa's desk and taking out Akaashi's and Kenma's letter to Oikawa. Oikawa crossed his arms and pouted like a child, but didn't press the subject on when Iwaizumi started reading it out loud.

"'Oikawa-san. Kenma and I have been informed you got sick after your birthday sleepover. We decided to try making you some food to help you regain your strength, however we were unsure what your favourite food was, so we made whatever we could send.'" Iwaizumi looked at the 5 containers and chuckled, shaking his head. "'We apologize if it was because Bokuto-san said you wouldn't be able to eat fudge off of a park bench'- you did _what_?" Oikawa groaned, cringing at the memory. It was just Bokuto and Kuroo provoking him as always, telling Oikawa he was too pussy to do it. Of course that would make Oikawa want to do it! "Just finish the letter!" Iwaizumi grimaced in disgust, shaking his head as he continued reading.  
"'I told Bokuto-san to leave you alone, but it seems him and Kuroo-san have taken a liking to you. I hope you don't mind their antics.' I thought you said Kuroo was just your tutor." Oikawa groaned again, not like being reminded of his weird friendship he developed with Kuroo. It gave him a headache thinking about how if Kuroo got sick he would also send him a care package of some sort. "'We hope you get well soon and return to Hogwarts stronger than before. If you need anything, don't hesitate writing back, though Iwaizumi-san must be taking good care of you.'" Iwaizumi beamed at the last sentence making Oikawa scowl. "'See you soon. Akaashi Keiji and Kozume Kenma.'"

Iwaizumi finished the letter then looked into the containers of food, smelling each one. He raised his eyebrows, slightly impressed when all the containers seemed to be fresh, and all the food actually looking good.

"That was nice of them," Iwaizumi took out a spoon and put it in the omurice container, giving it to Oikawa. "Here, you haven't eaten in a few hours. It's better if you eat them now so they don't go bad." Iwaizumi took the rest of the containers outside, planning to put it in the kitchen.

"Are you gonna eat with me?" Oikawa whined, watching Iwaizumi's back as he left the room again. Iwaizumi didn't look back, but he did stop at the door, thinking about it for a few minutes before nodding slowly.

"Just give me a second, okay? I'll be right back."

"Are we not gonna talk about how you tried to make out with me?"

Iwaizumi didn't answer for a moment as he changed Oikawa's pillow cases. After a silent meal together and a lot of going back and forth from the bathroom or the kitchen to back to Oikawa's room, Iwaizumi still hadn't brought up the topic of kissing Oikawa. He was flustered and confused and irritate - by not only Oikawa, but by himself as well.

Iwaizumi didn't intend to kiss Oikawa. It just happened.

Seeing Oikawa in a vulnerable state but not wanting to show him just proved how much they needed to develop in their relationship. It started with Oikawa wanting to prove he could make Amortentia, then escalated to being the Sltyherin Quidditch team captain, then getting tutored by a Gryffindor - Oikawa always wanted to be the best for Iwaizumi even if it meant pushing himself.

But Iwaizumi didn't need Oikawa at his best - he just needed Oikawa.

"I didn't try to make out with you," Iwaizumi muttered as he finished changing the pillow cases, fluffing the pillows as Oikawa laid back down, looking up at Iwaizumi with a cold stare, something Iwaizumi was pretty sure Oikawa picked up from him. "It wasn't that big of a deal, we take showers together sometimes, don't we?""It's not the same!"

It wasn't the same. Iwaizumi knew this. He knew this yet he was trying to avoid the problem, unintentionally so however. It seemed that Oikawa forgot this sometimes too, with how mature Iwaizumi ended up being to fill in for the things Oikawa lacked, but Iwaizumi was a teenager too - there were situations where he didn't know what to do either.

"You keep talking about 'communication' and a 'healthy relationship'. But you won't even address a simple kiss! Iwa-chan is being mean _and_ unfair. How could you..."

For the first time, Iwaizumi's first thought was Oikawa was in the right more than he was. Iwaizumi did create borders in order for their relationship to remain healthy and safe, not wanting to create too much conflict. Before being a significant other, Oikawa was a dear friend of his who's been with him since childhood. If they did happen to break up and it ended nasty, Iwaizumi wasn't sure what he would do if Oikawa and him stopped interacting altogether. He was sure Oikawa wouldn't care, but Iwaizumi would take the hit hard.

"Look, Oikawa-""If Iwa-chan doesn't want to talk about kissing then I don't want to talk at all."

Iwaizumi sighed as Oikawa childishly crossed his arms and stuck his chin up in the other direction. Even though it was dumb and immature, Iwaizumi knew this was probably the only way Oikawa could get to him.   
So like usual, Iwaizumi gave in to Oikawa's childish antics, eating it up as Oikawa fed it out of the palm of his hand.

"I kissed you because I wanted to. Happy?" 

Oikawa slowly turned his head, raising an eyebrow at Iwaizumi, then huffed turning around again. "That's it?" 

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth, but went over and sat on the edge of Oikawa's bed. It was true, Iwaizumi wouldn't talk so openly if Oikawa wasn't so stubborn. Maybe this was Oikawa's way of filling in for the things Iwaizumi lacked.

"No," Iwaizumi said softly. "I also kissed you because you're Oikawa." Oikawa's arms started dropping, his shoulders that were tensed up relaxing and his head lowering, waiting for Iwaizumi to continue.

"I kissed you because I don't want to kiss anyone else."

Oikawa's head turned as quickly as his arms reached out to pull Iwaizumi for a hug, squeezing him so tight that Iwaizumi felt like he was out of breath. But deep down inside, Oikawa's hugs were the best in his opinion.

"Iwa-chan is so stubborn and serious all the time! It's irritating!" Oikawa shouted in Iwaizumi's chest, hitting Iwaizumi's back hard over and over again, each time making Iwaizumi grunt uncomfortably, but he supposed he deserved it. "I waited so long! Iwa-chan deserves a punishment for being such a meanie!"

Iwaizumi had to hold in a laugh because the statement was so Oikawa. It was like he expected Oikawa to say such a thing and Iwaizumi was prepared for it, his whole heart open wide, ready to accept anything Oikawa threw at him - even if it meant ending up a little bit bruised.

"Alright, alright," Iwaizumi finally hugged him back as Oikawa's arms loosened up, rubbing Oikawa's back up and down. He was still a little sick, but Iwaizumi didn't care right now. Oikawa was here with him, wasn't he?

"I'm prepared for any punishment. Hit me with your best shot."

The next week Iwaizumi was in bed with the grossest cold he's ever experienced since the age of 7. His coughing sounded like wheezing, his throat felt swelled up and clogged, his ears were ringing and the whole room felt like it was going to suck him into a void of nothingness.

"Iwa-chan!"

The name echoed around the room, everything too loud yet too quiet at the same time as Oikawa came into his bedroom with bags of whatever he thought could heal Iwaizumi. Whatever it was though, Iwaizumi was 50% sure it would work.

"My mom made you a nice vegetable porridge. She says it's my fault you got sick, but I think it's because Iwa-chan tried to seduce me."

Iwaizumi didn't even have the energy to get mad at Oikawa as he watched Oikawa sit down on the ground next to Iwaizumi's bed, taking out the porridge and a spoon. "She said she added a healing potion in it," Oikawa mentioned, opening the container and putting a small amount on the spoon. "But since you're still young she didn't put a lot, so it might take longer to work. Iwa-chan is strong though, I know you'll be able to handle it!"

Maybe it was because Oikawa was feeding it to him, or maybe because it was the first semi-solid food he's eaten in the past 2 days, but it tasted like heaven on his tongue with hell running down his throat. He coughed some more, Oikawa quickly getting a tissue and holding it to Iwaizumi's mouth.

"There, there," Oikawa's voice suddenly got serious as he rubbed Iwaizumi's back, waiting for Iwaizumi to finish coughing. "Just a few more bites though. Iwa-chan looks so grey and thin."

Just like Oikawa said, Iwaizumi had about 4 more bites before Oikawa put the porridge away, making Iwaizumi drink some water too before letting him lay down, rubbing his forehead with a cold towel.

"Muggles are stupid," Oikawa scoffed, Iwaizumi not being able to ask what he meant, but Oikawa already knew how to run his mouth. "Kuroo and Hinata sent some weird pill medicine. When I read the ingredients it was just a bunch of nonsense, so I asked them what it was and they just said chemicals!" Iwaizumi had no intention asking what Oikawa was talking about and even though Iwaizumi didn't look interested, Oikawa took out a white bottle, showing it to Iwaizumi. His vision was blurry though, so he couldn't read what it said that clearly.

"I looked it up to see if it was okay with Iwa-chan's body, and you know what I found?" Iwaizumi didn't answer. "Your body could get used to this stuff! Every time you get sick it'll make you rely on these stupid pills. Your body should be fine fighting things off on it's own!" Iwaizumi couldn't tell Oikawa that it was the same thing as relying on healing potion, even though his facial expression was conveying that Oikawa wasn't making any sense.  
Kuroo and Hinata were just being considerate, weren't they?

"Hina...ta?" Iwaizumi managed to get out in a weak croak, wondering how Hinata found out he was sick. Oikawa seemed to understand, nodding as he showed Iwaizumi a 'get well soon' card, a fluffy bear on the front holding a heart. Iwaizumi thought it looked like something you were supposed to give someone on Valentine's day, minus the 'I hope you're feeling BEAR-Y well today'.

"He heard from Kuroo," Oikawa explained, opening the card up. "Want me to read what he wrote you?" Iwaizumi barely nodded, Oikawa clearing his throat dramatically as he started reading out loud the contents of the card.

"'Iwaizumi-san. Kageyama-' are you still talking to Tobio?" Oikawa raised an eyebrow at Iwaizumi, glaring down at him. Iwaizumi coughed weakly, shaking his head making Oikawa relax a little. Iwaizumi could see the irritation in his eyes as Oikawa read the name, but honestly, he needed to get over it. Oikawa was older and more experienced with other troublesome things than an annoying junior that might be a little better than him at some things. But Iwaizumi would tell him that on another day.  
"'-and I heard you were sick. Kenma told us at Oikawa-san's birthday party, you were dared to drink slugs. Did you actually do it?'" Oikawa chuckled a bit and even Iwaizumi managed a soft smile at the memory - it wasn't just him though! Terushima dared him but ended up drinking it with Iwaizumi along with Yahaba. A weird feeling, but no way was Iwaizumi gonna lose and be the first one to vomit.  
"'Even if you did I think that's totally awesome. We weren't sure what to get you since Iwaizumi-san is very capable, but these pills are supposed to help you get better. Kageyama'-" Oikawa grimaced saying the name, "'-said that it was pointless, but I'm not sure what else to get you, so sorry. Anyway, get well soon please so in the new school year we can see each other healthy. Sleep often and drink a lot of fluids. Signed, Hinata and mini-Iwaizumi-san.'" Oikawa put the card down then threw the bottle of pills in the trash. Iwaizumi didn't even try to stop him.

"Kuroo sent the same thing too, but I think he just did that to make me angry," Oikawa hissed, looking at the pill bottle and rolling his eyes, throwing Kuroo's in the trash too. "Muggles. Ugh, why do they have to make everything so complicated!"

Iwaizumi didn't hate muggles, especially not as much as Slytherins did, but he did think they were odd. Like Bokuto's parents, who hunted wizards solely based on the fact that they're scared of magic existing and being more powerful than non-magic things. Was it so bad? Only bad wizards could do damage, but so could bad people in general. As long as they were educated properly and raised in a good environment - like Bokuto.

"Write...back," Iwaizumi rose his hand up to point to the pen and papers on his desk, but Oikawa shook his head. "You can write back when you get more energy. But right now, Iwa-chan needs to regain his strength! Don't worry Iwa-chan, I'll heal you! You'll be up and ready to kiss me again in no time."

A week went by and Iwaizumi wasn't any better.

Oikawa's mom upped the dosage of the healing potion and Oikawa fed him regularly, gave him baths, made him drink some medicine (not muggle medicine of course) and even got Iwaizumi to sweat it out. But it's been a whole 7 days and Iwaizumi was still laying in bed, his voice weak and his head pounding like a hammer to a nail. Iwaizumi's mom finally got involved, which made Iwaizumi feel a little more at ease.

"Hajime-kun gets like this when he's sick. Sometimes it lasts ten days, it's nothing to worry too much about." Now that Iwaizumi thought about it, the last time he got sick _was_ when he was 7. All he remembered was a lot of nasty wake ups and wetting the bed - and Oikawa crying at him, telling him not to die.

"He doesn't get sick often, but when he does it's like a storm. If he's still like this in a few days then I'll call a doctor, okay?" Iwaizumi's mom reassured Oikawa, but Oikawa still felt like he should be doing something more, right? Iwaizumi healed him, he should be able to heal Iwaizumi as well.

"Yes, no problem," Oikawa bowed as Iwaizumi's mom left the room, then turning back to Iwaizumi and pouting down at him. "Sorry, Iwa-chan," Oikawa's voice sounding dejected which made Iwaizumi's heart just break. "I'm not a good doctor like you..."

Iwaizumi shook his head, coughing as he sat up. Oikawa helped him, propping him up on a pillow and wiping the back of his neck when he saw the sweat dripping down, staining the collar of his shirt. Oikawa would have to give him another bath.

"Oikawa-" Iwaizumi coughed violently into his fist, Oikawa quickly getting a tissue and holding it to Iwaizumi's mouth, waiting patiently for Iwaizumi to stop so he could continue. "Shh, it's okay. Tell me later." Iwaizumi shook his head, pulling the tissue away and sniffling, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He wanted to ask now, having the question in his mind pretty much all week. Probably because he had nothing much to do than think and sleep.

"Kuroo's present-" Iwaizumi coughed, not being able to hold it, but Oikawa quickly finished the question for him. "'Kuroo's present'? You wanna know what Kuroo got me for my birthday?" Iwaizumi nodded, glad that Oikawa wasn't as dumb as Iwaizumi called him.   
But Oikawa's stupid grin on his face made Iwaizumi wish he had the power of ten men to punch it out of him.

"Do you know what a 'scrapbook' is?" Iwaizumi shook his head, not in the mood to learn new words, but it seemed that this was important to Oikawa's story. "Kuroo said it was something that he made as a kid to create precious memories. You can put in stickers or little things from the memory to make it much more sentimental. The most important thing to add though, is photos!" Iwaizumi still wasn't sure what this had to do with Oikawa's gift, but Oikawa was so excited talking about it he didn't stop him.

"Kuroo made me a scrapbook of Iwa-chan! It has all these cool photos of Iwa-chan playing Quidditch or yelling at me in the dining hall - it even has a photo of Iwa-chan sleeping! He said he was able to get the photos by asking people to take them for him, but I kinda like the idea that Kuroo took them all just for me. I mean, what better present, right?"

Iwaizumi's mind exploded. Not only was that creepy, but that was _dangerous._ Oikawa with that many photos of him? He might as well sell his soul to Oikawa next.   
Damn Kuroo. Damn Kuroo and Bokuto while he was at it because he was not in the mood to risk it all by trusting the dumber of the two.

"Don't worry though, I won't show anyone," Oikawa said quickly, but Iwaizumi's voice couldn't scream at him that it wasn't showing anyone that was the problem - Oikawa having it was a problem.

"He says he's gonna make me one of the two of us next for Christmas! So make sure you always look good, Iwa-chan. I don't want any ugly photos in my Christmas gift. Of course I'll look good in almost all of them, so we have to be together a lot this year, understand?"

It hurt, like a rip in his guts while his brain banged down to his stomach and his back breaking while his bones crushed into his skull. But Iwaizumi finally screamed.


	7. Sugawara's Daycare

Date : August 17 1997

Time : 9:10 AM

Current Location : Prairie Land Daycare

Mission : If a kid vomits on Daichi do not freak out. It was probably unintentional anyway.

"You do this every summer?"  
"Yeah, my mom always needs a little extra help. Besides, the kids here are so sweet."

Summer vacation was a time for relaxation and not focusing on school. However, Sugawara took the liberty of using this time for himself, and instead helped out at his mom's daycare where he had to clean dirty diapers and feed whiny children from 9 AM to 3 PM. Honestly, Sugawara actually loved it.

"Does your mom pay you?"  
"I mean, she feeds and houses me. I guess that's more than enough payment."

A daycare center was tough work. Having to manage around 15 kids all day, doing things that their parents should be doing, it definitely would take toll on someone's body. That's why Sugawara volunteered to help take the load off his mom's shoulders a bit. After telling Daichi a bit about what he did in a day at daycare, Daichi expressed a bit of interest, telling Sugawara it would be cool if they both did it.

Getting them here, Sugawara just having picked Daichi up from the bus stop and now walking to Prairie Land Daycare, ready for a day of crying kids and unknown fluids coming out of different parts of their bodies.

Taking care of a few Gryffindors was one thing, but Daichi couldn't say that he had much experience with babies and toddlers.

"But don't you have younger siblings?" Sugawara pointed out, making Daichi shrug weakly. "Yeah," he answered, "but to be honest, being at Hogwarts doesn't give me a lot of time with them when they need the most care. Over the summer I just have fun with them and let my mom do all the hard work so that when I leave again for the school year it doesn't feel like we wasted any time."

Sugawara knew Daichi's younger siblings weren't allowed to go to Hogwarts yet, his younger brother being 8 and his sister 6. He thought Daichi showed interest in the daycare because he has experience with kids around the age of the kids there, but it turned out Daichi was more hesitant than he thought.

"You'll be fine. Daichi-kun seems like he'll be good with kids," Sugawara said encouragingly. "The daycare is already opened, so I'll just run you down the schedule first before we actually start."

He could see Daichi nervously entering the daycare, latching to Sugawara's back as they walked in. They entered through the employee entrance so none of the kids were seen yet, but Daichi could hear laughter and screaming from another room.   
When he looked around the staff room, even Daichi could tell right away that this place was for kids.

"Apron," Sugawara gave Daichi a frog one, a big-eyed, bright green frog on the front, the mouth sticking out it's tongue as the pocket. Sugawara had a cute little bunny, the strings tying the apron looking like the ears. "Do you want a name tag too? Some of them can't read yet, but it's more for the parents."

Sugawara took out the sticker name tags, the border of it bright, colourful flowers, writing Daichi's name in bubble letters. He added a heart at the end before sticking the name tag on Daichi's chest. Sugawara had his name tag already clipped on his apron, several smiley face stickers on it - Daichi thought it suited him well.

"You look cute," Sugawara giggled, pecking Daichi's cheek before showing Daichi the calendar for the day. There were charts of different names - Daichi assumed the kids that attended - and times for certain activities. There was snack time, nap time, play time - Daichi didn't realize how much care an actual baby needed. Sugawara mentioned the oldest kid they had was 6 years old, and Daichi wasn't sure if he was mentally prepared. 

"Since there are so many of them we split them into little groups. You can take the 'Crow' group today," Sugawara pointed to the chart, a few names listed down. "But it only means that you focus on the group. We'll still be together," Sugawara winked making Daichi blush a bit but he didn't say anything, letting Sugawara continue.  
"There are different times for the kids to do things, so from 9 AM to 10 AM they play for a bit, then we have snack from 10 AM to 10:15 AM. Then we do a bit of group games from 10:20 AM to 11 AM. Then from 11 AM to 12 PM we let them do a quieter activity like colouring. From 12 PM to about 1 PM is lunch time, then from 1 PM to 2 PM it's more play time, then from 2 PM to about 3 PM is nap time. Then they just have free time after and we wait for their parents to pick them up."

It was a lot of information, but Sugawara knew that. "My mom will remind us of the times, don't worry too much. But this is just an idea of how the day will look like," Sugawara grinned when he saw Daichi nodding his head slowly, staring at the big chart. He was reading the names of the kids, trying to get familiar with them. "The kids have name tags too, don't worry," Sugawara chuckled, reaching out to hold Daichi's hand. Daichi finally looked at him, gulping a bit.

"Your mom is out there right now?"

Right. This would be Daichi's first time meeting Sugawara's mom. But with the amount of time Sugawara has talked about Daichi with his mom, it didn't really feel like the first introduction.

"Yes, she is," Sugawara nodded. "And she'll love you. Like all these kids will."

It eased Daichi's nerves a bit, but of course the first impression was always the more important one, so not only did he want to do a good job so the kids will have fun, but also he wanted to show Sugawara's mom he was hard working and a good fit for Sugawara.

"Don't worry too much," Sugawara lightly scolded, flicking Daichi's forehead. "These kids aren't that bad. They won't even compare to Noya-kun, so just think of how you take care of him when one of these actual toddlers start acting up."

But Nishinoya doesn't shit his pants (at least of what Daichi knew) so that just added to his stress even more thinking of a more helpless Nishinoya or Hinata or even a Bokuto. Hopefully these kids were more mature, even if it was by a little bit.

"Oh, and Daichi-kun," Sugawara added as he let go of Daichi, heading to the door so both of them could get ready for their first shift together of the summer. Daichi was slow to follow, but eventually he ended up beside Sugawara.

"Remember, these kids are all muggles. Don't say or do anything weird that they'll tell their parents, okay? Parents these days will take their 5 year old kid's side over an adult for some reason."

"Fuugetsu? Can I call you Getsu-kun?"

Getsu was 3 years old and held onto a plush toy of a dinosaur like it was the last thing on earth. He was pretty quiet, not wanting to play with the other kids, except for some reason other kids wanted to play with him. When someone asked him a question he responded though. And when Daichi approached him he didn't start crying. So Daichi ended up paying a bit of attention to him during the first part of play time.

"How old are you, Getsu-kun?" Getsu held up three fingers, looking up at Daichi like he was giant, which to a three year old he probably was. "3? Wow, what a big number!" Daichi pointed to the dinosaur plush toy. "What's that?" Geutsu looked down at his dinosaur then held it up for Daichi to see. Daichi was waiting for the little blond boy to say something, but when nothing came out of his mouth he just filled in the silence.

"A dinosaur?"

Getsu shook his head vigorously, like Daichi said something to offend him (could 3 year old kids feel offended?) pushing the dinosaur in his face even more. Daichi gave him a confused look, looking at the plush toy again, a clear replication of a dinosaur, with a long tail and neck with the spiky things on it's back. What did Getsu think it was if not a dinosaur?

"Dragon."

Daichi's eyes widened and he let out a laugh, looking at he dinosaur again, then looking at Getsu, then the dinosaur. "Oh, sorry Mr. Dragon," Daichi chuckled, petting the head of Getsu's 'dragon' and watching Getsu to see his reaction. "You look a lot like my friend, Mr. Dinosaur. I'm sorry for the confusion." Daichi bowed like he was apologizing which seemed to get Getsu's attention, putting his dragon down on the ground then holding his hand up at Daichi. A bit confused, Daichi held his hand out back at Getsu before Getsu weakly high five'ed Daichi.

Daichi's heart thought it was going to explode from cuteness overload.

"Does Mr. Dragon blow fire?" Getsu nodded, picking up his dragon again and pointing to it's mouth. It seemed Getsu didn't talk a lot, but Daichi didn't mind too much. Having Getsu as his first kid he was paying the most attention to was mellowed and gave him a good start.

"You know, not all dragons blow fire," Daichi pointed out, making Getsu's eyes go wide, fascinated by the fact. "It's true. Not all dragons blow fire, but most of them can fly. If the dragon can't fly either it's wings got cut off, or they didn't grow right. Does your Mr. Dragon hide his wings?" Getsu looked down at his dragon, shaking his head as he touched it's back. Daichi wondered what was going on in the toddler's mind.

"Accident."

Daichi's jaw dropped at the simple complexity of the answer, really wishing he knew what the 3 year old was picturing in his mind when he said 'accident'. Was he thinking his dragon lost it's wings in an accident? Daichi really hoped not.

"Hey, Daichi-kun," Daichi looked up to see Sugawara, giving him a weirdly sweet smile as he walked up to him. Daichi smiled back but was greeted with a hard pinch to his back. "Dragons are a fun topic, but why are you so confident about talking about them?"

Daichi didn't think that he was telling Getsu anything weird, but from the look on Sugawara's face he felt like he shouldn't argue, so he went back to Getsu, chuckling nervously as he patted Getsu's head this time, earning a flinch from Getsu and a shake to get Daichi's hand off of him.

"Well, Getsu-kun, dragons are...anything you want to be. So if your dragon doesn't fly, that's your choice, alright? As long as you're happy."

Lunchtime came and Getsu sat next to Daichi. Of course there was another free spot next to him though, so Daichi made sure to give some attention to the other kids.

"What's your name?" Daichi asked, looking at the name tag of the kid but waited for him to answer. His hair was bright orange and it seemed like he wouldn't stop smiling. Especially when the lunches were given to them, a bowl of rice with vegetables and ground beef. They had to wait, of course, for Sugawara to say it was okay to eat.

"Kakeruhi!" The kid replied, showing Daichi two fingers. "I'm three years old!" 

Daichi stifled a laugh, not wanting to burst this kid's bubble by telling him the amount of fingers he was holding up was two and not three, but he couldn't hold in the amusement it brought him. 

Sugawara was on the other side of the table, already helping feed his kids and Daichi realized he should be doing so as well. Getsu seemed more than capable eating his food, but Kakeruhi had a little more problems.

"Oh, no, don't use your hands like that. Here, the spoon," Daichi held the little spoon Kakeruhi should have been using, trying to get him to take it in his hand, but Kakeruhi acted like it didn't exist, grabbing the ground beef in the bowl with his bare hands, his whole shirt dirtying itself when the eagerness to eat something made Kakeruhi drop his bowl on his clothes, making a big mess on the floor.

"Kakeruhi-kun!" Kakeruhi whimpered when Daichi shouted, but it was just a natural reaction. He wasn't mad, but shocked, looking at the big mess on the floor. "Oh, wait, no, I'm not upset. No, don't cry, don't cry, please-" Kakeruhi let out a big wail as he started weeping.

His hands were messy with beef and vegetables but it didn't seem like he cared as he wiped his eyes, getting the meat in his eyes, probably making his eyes sting even more. Daichi was panicking as he quickly took a napkin to wipe his hands, but the smell of meat was still on his shirt and a very obvious stain. Sugawara got up and went over, seeing if he could do something.

"Aw, Kaa-chan, did you make a mess?"

Sugawara's voice was different, higher and much more bubbly (if that made any sense) as he picked up Kakeruhi, not minding that some of the food was getting on him too. Daichi watched as Sugawara handled it, heading to the bathroom first, but kept the door open so Daichi was able to watch.

"You were so happy to eat lunch, huh?" Sugawara kept his baby voice on as he took Kakeruhi's shirt off, putting in the sink and rinsing it out. "Were you scared when Sawamura-san yelled? He did that because he saw you dropped your food. Now what is Kaa-chan supposed to eat?" Kakeruhi's sniffling quieted down a bit, his sobbing slowing as Sugawara took a wet towel to wipe Kakeruhi's hands and arms as well, getting rid of the smell of food. "Kaa-chan is getting bigger by the day, aren't you? Aren't you, Kaa-chan? You're such a good boy, right? So stop crying, okay? Good boys don't cry over spilled food." Kakeruhi stopped his tears but instead looked like he was holding them in, biting his lip hard as Sugawara cleaned off the rest of his body, taking his pants off too.   
"Such a good boy, Kaa-chan. Sawamura-san and I are so proud of you."

So that's how you took care of a child. Praise and attention.

"Samawura-san!" 

Daichi decided not to correct Kakeruhi when he said his name wrong, not wanting to spend too much time focusing on his pronunciations and instead on the games Kakeruhi wanted to play with him.  
It turned out Kakeruhi was quite a friendly child, very energetic like Nishinoya, and quite loud, much louder than Getsu. Daichi didn't mind, it was nice to play pretend games with kids. They had such a big imagination.

"I is a tiger, 'kay?" Kakeruhi went on all fours, looking up at Daichi, waiting for him to crouch down. Daichi went on his knees, looking down at Kakeruhi and waiting for him to do something.

"Enapee!" Daichi furrowed his eyebrows when Kakeruhi said the made up word, not sure what to do, but he went on all fours as well to see if that did something. When Kakeruhi squealed in excitement, Daichi felt a weird sense of pride for understanding what he wanted.

"Enapee! Enapee!" Daichi still didn't know what he was saying, but then Kakeruhi started roaring, pretending to bit Daichi's arm. Since he had baby teeth of course it didn't hurt, but he was a bit shocked. Then Kakeruhi looked up at Daichi waiting for him to do something too.

"Uh," Daichi leaned down and nipped at Kakeruhi's hair, thinking he wanted Daichi to copy him, but Kakeruhi started whining, shaking his head, biting Daichi's arm again. "Enapee! Enapee!"

The fuck was an Enapee. Daichi leaned down again and nipped at Kakeruhi's shoulder this time, thinking he wanted Kakeruhi to bite him back, but Kakeurhi shook his head again, biting Daichi's arm again, looking up at Daichi with wide eyes. "Enapee!"

Daichi wanted to scream and ask him what an Enapee was, but Sugawara was there, thanfully, to save the day.

"Elephant," Sugawara cleared up the confusion, getting down on all fours as well, making an elephant noise with his mouth, successfully making Kakeruhi giggle with excitement and bite Sugawara's arm. In response, Sugawara hit the top of Kakeruhi's head with his nose, swinging his head from side to side, so theoretically if he had an elephant trunk Sugawara would be able to hit Kakeruhi.

"He's still learning," Sugawara chuckled, getting up and then petting Daichi on the head, looking down at him. Daichi on all fours like this, looking up at Sugawara...

"But Kaa-chan, don't you think Sawamura-san looks better as a dog?"

Nap time might've been Daichi's favourite part. Everyone was quiet (almost everyone) all on mats and laying down under blankets. They were the cutest so far, Daichi watching as they cuddled different stuffed animals. His favourite was Getsu cuddling Mr. Dinosaur with another one of the kids Daichi took care of, a small boy named Sanko. Sanko followed Getsu a lot, Daichi noticed, even though Getsu didn't really respond. But the sight was adorable when Getsu was willing to share his dinosaur with him to hug. In about 20 minutes, though Kakeruhi was fussy, and there was fighting going on in the 'Kitten' group that another volunteer was in charge of, all the kids were finally asleep.

Well, almost all.

"Higashimine?" Daichi noticed the little boy in the corner, thrashing around quietly, trying not to make too much noise but was whimpering as he looked out the window. His blanket threw itself off, Higashimine not looking up at Daichi even though he was called. 

Higashimine was bigger than the other kids, being 5 years old and one of the older ones. Daichi didn't worry about him too much because he was quiet and well-mannered, being able to play with the other kids. But it seemed even though he was older and pretty big for his age, he was still just a kid.

"Higashi-kun?" Daichi called again, tip-toeing over to him and shaking the 5 year old to get his attention. Higashimine finally looked up at Daichi, his eyes watering. "What's wrong?"

Higashimine sniffled, reaching his hands up and out which Daichi responded with by lifting Higashimine up, carrying him around the room. Sugawara and the other volunteers were in the back now, taking their break but since Higashimine was in his group Daichi felt like he needed to do something. "What's wrong, huh? You can't sleep?"

Daichi was trying Sugawara's method of baby talking, even though it felt a little silly and not suited for him that much. It seemed to calm the kids down when Daichi's voice wasn't his normal, lower voice.

"Dark.." Higashimine whimpered, shaking his head and hitting it on Daichi's shoulder. "When I close my eyes it's dark."

Daichi didn't know what to say because on the one hand Higashimine wasn't wrong. On the other hand though, he was supposed to be napping and he could tell Higashimine was tired. What was Daichi supposed to say to such a weirdly blunt comment like that?

"You can turn on the nightlight in your eyes though," Daichi suggested casually making Higashimine puff his cheeks out in confusion. "Nightlight?""Yeah. Everyone has one." Daichi closed his eyes, waiting a few seconds before nodding. "I just turned mine on." He opened his eyes again, seeing Higashimine's expression get all fascinated and awed. Kids were dumb, but they were so smart and cute in their own ways.

"You try it now, Higashi-kun." 

Higashimine closed his eyes, nodding firmly, squeezing them shut, he honestly looked like he was constipated. Daichi waited a few seconds, trying to see if Higashimine would actually believe him.

"It won't turn on," Higashimine whined, opening his eyes again, looking at Daichi desperately. "Am I doing it wrong?" Daichi quickly shook his head, walking around and bouncing Higashimine up and down in his arms, trying to get him to settle down. It was hard, especially since Higashimine seemed so determined to be able to take a nap now that he knew he could turn a nightlight on in his eyes.  
Daichi only regretted it a little bit.

"What does your nightlight look like at home?" Higashimine had to think about it for a bit. Daichi wouldn't have been surprised if he had more than one nightlight. "A lightening bolt.""Good! Okay, so think of your lightening bolt." Without being told to, Higashimine closed his eyes, nodding his head to let Daichi know he was thinking of his lightening bolt. "Good, good. Now...turn it on!"

It was a few seconds later when Higashimine gasped, his eyes still closed as he smiled widely at Daichi. Daichi couldn't help but chuckle, stroking Higashimine's hair out of his face as he went back to his mat, laying Higashimine down.

"Alright, now keep that nightlight on, okay?" Daichi whispered, tucking Higashimine in and giving him an extra pillow to hug. "And then I'll help you turn it back off when you wake up."

With one last check to make sure Higashimine was asleep, Daichi finally was able to leave the kids at peace, letting them take their nap and Daichi take his break.

"Not bad, Kou-chan," Sugawara's mom whispered to her son as they watched Daichi washing the dishes from lunch time. "And he's a pure blood, you say?"

Sugawara has gushed about Daichi multiple times after they started dating, telling his mom the whole story of Daichi and how they met, finally being able to officially say they were dating. He wrote it all in a letter while he was still in his 5th year at Hogwarts, not being able to contain his eagerness to share their story - of course he didn't mention he got bullied though. That was something his mom didn't need to worry about. 

"Yeah, but he doesn't care I'm muggle born," he assured his mom. It wasn't that unknown that being muggle born was something that was a bit looked down on. Of course, over the years things have gotten better, and pretty much every house besides Slytherin didn't care that much about muggle born and half bloods.

But sometimes, there were the traditional families that brought up the fact that magic should 'stay in range' and they shouldn't be tainting the 'image of magic'. Luckily, Daichi's family was more than open minded.

"Have you met his parents yet?" Sugawara shook his head because he hasn't had that opportunity yet, especially since Daichi lived quite far from the muggle world, right in the center of all the business of magic world life. If Sugawara wanted to visit it would be a lot of transfers and he was looking at 4 - 5 hours minimum of commute time (one way). Daichi's parents stepping into the muggle world was out of the question.

"He's a good wizard?""Yeah, but I'm better."

Sugawara watched as Daichi was getting a bit frustrated with manually washing the dishes, probably used to being able to charm the cleaning supplies to get them to do the dishes for him. Obviously, they weren't able to do magic outside of Hogwarts so Daichi wouldn't have been able to charm the dishes on his own anyway, but Sugawara still had a feeling Daichi was probably inconvenienced by all these muggle rules now that he had no idea what to do with.

"And?" Sugawara looked at his mom, waiting for the rest of the question. "'And'?""And! And what do you want to do with him?" Sugawara blushed at the question, hitting his mom lightly on the shoulder but she just rolled her eyes. "I didn't raise you like that, Kou-chan.""Yeah, well, that's what you got."

Daichi's arms were very much visible in the shirt he was wearing. Watching him flex as he started reaching up to put the dishes away in the cupboards made Sugawara bite his lip hard, wishing he could go over and bite on his muscles.   
Maybe if his mom wasn't there he would've.

"I meant are you gonna be with each other even after Hogwarts?" His mom asked again, making Sugawara tense up a bit. "Or are you just having fun with him because Daichi-kun is cute?"

When she said it like that Sugawara felt disgusted. No way was he just going to be with Daichi just because of his looks (though they were a very nice bonus) but he was with Daichi because of his kind heart, his genuine care he had for people and the way he carried himself, leading a whole house on his own while still being able to tend to everyone's needs.   
Daichi was a good partner, a good friend and a good kisser - Sugawara felt like he hit a jackpot.

"I wanna have what mom and dad have. Except I'll be with Daichi," Sugawara said confidently, smiling brightly at his mom. He could see his mom rolling her eyes, but deep down in her heart she was probably (hopefully) touched by the words. She hit the back of Sugawara's head lightly before brushing off her apron as she backed away, leaving Sugawara to ogle at his boyfriend.

"You keep saying that," Sugawara's mom sighed. "But trust me, marriage doesn't do anything. I mean, look at what dad and I made. Not that much to be proud of."

Sugawara stuck his tongue out at his mom, but laughed quickly after. Sure, Sugawara was a 'mudblood', but he wouldn't want any other parents than his own.

"Fuugetsu Hotaru.""Yes ma'am. Getsu-kun! Your mom's here!"

Getsu ran over, his dinosaur in hand as he left was let out of the door, his mom signing something and then taking the name tag off of her son. "I also was asked to pick up Sanko-kun as well. Is that alright?" Daichi checked the forms of guardians on the list Sugawara told him to look at to make sure the kids were going off with the right parents, making sure Sanko's parents have permitted Sanko to also be picked up by the Fuugetsu's. He was a little shocked when he did see their names written down as guardians, realizing that Sanko and Getsu were probably family friends.

"Yes, no problem. Sanko-kun, you're going home with Getsu-kun today." Sanko eagerly squealed, running to Getsu, bowing to Daichi first before latching onto Getsu's side, holding the hand that wasn't holding his dinosaur. Getsu didn't say anything, but he didn't push Sanko away either.

"Thank you so much," Getsu's mom bowed to Daichi, Daichi bowing back. "Not a problem! Bye Getsu-kun, Sanko-kun. Bye, Mr. Dragon." Getsu actually turned at this, holding up his dinosaur plush toy and making it bow to Daichi - his heart might've exploded with overwhelming adorableness. 

"That's the last kid," Sugawara went over to Daichi, back hugging him and looking down at all the crossed off names. It was a little after 4 PM, the day being over for them. All the other volunteers had already left after the around the third or fourth last kid left, but Daichi of course stayed till the end. He was going to help with the cleaning as well, of course.

"Thank you so much, Daichi-kun," Sugawara's mom clapped at both of them. It looked like when Daichi was signing out kids, Sugawara and his mom had done most of the cleaning already. Though Daichi wanted to help, he had to admit his back was hurting from having to lean down all day and pick up kids the having to crouch and go on his knees - yeah, he was thankful that he didn't clean up too much.

"I'm just gonna put the sign back inside and turn the lights off at the front. I won't be long," Sugawara's mom said as she was heading out before Daichi could even offer to do it. Sugawara and him were alone in the daycare, which shouldn't have been as tense as Daichi was feeling.

"I told you the kids would love you," Sugawara giggled, watching as Daichi let out an airy laugh, shrugging. They both leaned on one of the counters in the daycare, their sides touching each other. It was a tiring day, Daichi had to admit that. He couldn't imagine doing this all week.

"It's not like they were monsters or anything.""Oh, you wait and see. After a week and they finally learn your name - my goodness." Sugawara laughed but it wasn't until a minute later he realized what he said.

"Uh, I mean, if you _want_ to come back. I know it's a long commute and stuff, and it's early in the morning. But I just thought, you know, because you looked like you had fun, so, uh," Sugawara trailed off awkwardly, coughing in embarrassment, his face rising in colour when he felt stupid for rambling on. "Sorry."

Daichi couldn't stop smiling at him.

"I'd like to come back," Daichi told him him, making Sugawara's eyes widen, shaking his hands and head in protest. "No, no, I didn't mean you _have_ to, but if you wanted-""I want to," Daichi reassured him, nodding his head firmly. "If you're worried about the commute, remember I travel by Floo powder, so it only takes a second. Really, I'm fine," Daichi chuckled, watching as Sugawara's concerned expression relaxed.   
"Besides, I like having fun with the kids with you. It kind of feels like we have kids of our own."

Sugawara's blush returned, looking away quickly. Daichi wasn't too sure why the comment got Sugawara all flustered like that, but he could take a good guess it was because he was imagining what Daichi was imagining - a future with each other, way in the future, when they were adults and still together.

'How many kids does Daichi-kun want to have?"

Sugawara still wasn't looking at him, but Daichi didn't mind. His smile wasn't leaving his face as he thought about Sugawara and him in 10 years, maybe a regular house with at least one kid to start with, a nice job for the both of them and a garden where Daichi could grow flowers for Sugawara. It was a nice thought.

"However many Suga wants," Daichi chuckled, seeing the tips of Sugawara's ears turning red. "I think Suga would be a good dad, so I hope you'll consider it." Sugawara groaned, turning to Daichi and glaring at him before hitting him in the stomach. The hit startled Daichi, groaning in pain and holding the place Sugawara hit, but Sugawara didn't apologize.

"Oh, shut up Daichi. Perfection gets annoying after a while, you know that?"

"Don't worry about it too much, Daichi-kun. You've definitely earned it!"

Daichi tried refusing a dinner from Sugawara's mom, the two of them taking him to a restaurant. Daichi didn't have muggle money so he couldn't offer to pay, and he didn't even have an idea as to just how much the meal would be anyway. He felt a bit spoiled, but Sugawara assured him that it was okay. Dinner would be on them and later Daichi's family could treat them.  
Daichi liked that idea very much.

"So, Kou-chan tells me you're head of...""Head of house," Sugawara filled in. Even though Sugawara told his parents about Hogwarts and what went on, of course they couldn't remember everything. 

"And your house is...""Gryffindor," Sugawara nodded his head, letting his mom continue. "Right. What does the head of house do then?" Daichi cleared his throat, sitting up a little straighter. The three of them had already ordered and now were just waiting for their food to come.

"Well, the professors is the real head of house, but my position is similar. I just can't take away house points or give out punishments. But basically I make sure everyone is in line, keeping themselves in check and getting as many house points so we can win the house cup at the end of the year. As well as making sure everyone's grades are adequate and making sure there is as little conflict with us and other houses, of course. Nothing too difficult. I like to say I lead the Gryffindor house in a way, but of course everyone is doing their best to make sure the Gryffindor house has a good reputation."

Sugawara's mom nodded slowly, his mouth slightly ajar. It was clear she wasn't exactly sure what Daichi was talking about.

"He makes sure no one gets in trouble or else Daichi kills them," Sugawara translated making Daichi weakly protest, but when Sugawara's mom looked like she actually got it he didn't say anythig.

"Ah, I see. Kind of like a class president?" Sugawara shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, more or less."

Daichi had no idea what a class president was, but it sounded pretty leader-ly, so he didn't ask.

"And what did you want to do after Hogwarts, Daichi-kun?" Sugawara's mom asked. Daichi was grateful Sugawara's mom wasn't ignorant or uninterested in the wizarding world, having asked Daichi a bunch of questions so far which boosted his spirits up more. He wanted to make a good first impression, and it definitely helped when Sugawara's mom was open minded.

"I want to work for the Ministry of Magic Law Enforcement department. Especially with how critical it is to be regulating magic in the muggle world and separating magic from non-magic as much as possible in order to maintain peace until both muggles and wizards are equally educated about each other. Laws haven't been changed yet regarding the allowance of magic in the muggle world, so technically adults are allowed to still use magic here, but I believe it's important that they enforce laws on using them in front of muggles before they frighten them. The one thing that's separating magic and muggles is fear, and the Ministry of Magic hasn't taken into account just how important the mix of both worlds could actually benefit both parties."

Sugawara's mom stared at him blankly, Sugawara just waving his hand.

"He wants to be a wizard cop." Sugawara's mom nodded slowly, and even though Sugawara's explanation seemed to downsize what Daichi just said, if Sugawara's mom understood it better like this then he decided to trust that Sugawara wasn't mocking him.

"And want to do this because you believe that non-magic and magic folk don't know enough about each other?" Daichi nodded his head firmly, making Sugawara's mom raise an eyebrow.

"Daichi-kun, when Kou-chan was a wizard, you know I had a hard time believing it," she confirmed, making Daichi tense up a bit. Did she not want Sugawara to be a wizard in the first place?  
"I think you're onto something with trying to mix muggles and wizards. But I warn you," she sighed sadly. "Change isn't that easy. Magic and non-magic is as different as night and day. It'll be almost impossible to make them meet."

Daichi gulped at the words, trying not to feel too dejected because that probably wasn't the intention she had by bringing up the completely valid and blunt point. It would be hard to make a change, Daichi has thought about this.

"But, Sugawara-san, you and your husband have already proved that change is possible," Daichi said softly, making Sugawara's mom tilt her head a bit. "Oh? How so?""By accepting Koushi-kun as a wizard even though you had no idea what you were getting into," Daichi could feel Sugawara tensing beside him, but he didn't stop. "Just being willing to get educated, by wanting to learn more and ready to anything for someone you love dearly, I think that motivation is enough to make a change. Even if it's one step more, if I'm able to help, I want to be do whatever I can. If it means that Sugawara-san and your family can live a more comfortable life, I think even that would be motivation enough for me as well."

Both of them looked at Daichi, not responding at first and staying quiet before looking at each other then back at Daichi. Sugawara's mom let out a soft chuckle, nodding her head slowly. Daichi was a bit confused at first but then she exhaled loudly, looking straight at Daichi. He shivered.

"Fine, you win," Sugawara's mom grinned, Sugawara rolling his eyes hard, earning a hard kick from his mom. "You have my blessing, Daichi-kun. But I better be seeing some more muggles and wizards interacting before I die, you hear me?"

Daichi practically shined, nodding his head. Sugawara reached his hand down to Daichi's, taking it and squeezing it, Daichi responding by intertwining their fingers together and squeezing back.

"I promise! I'll protect and cherish your son with all my heart. And I'll definitely be able to bring our two worlds closer together early enough that you'll have enough time to have something else impossible you want to see. Please trust me with your son!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 月島 (Tsuki - Shima) : 月 (Tsuki) = Moon ; 風月 (Fuu - Getsu) : 月 (Getsu) = Moon  
> 翔陽 (Shou - You) : 翔 (Shou) = fly , 陽 (day, sunshine) ; 翔陽 can also be pronounced 'Kakeru - Hi' <\- same meaning as 'Shouyou'  
> 山口 (Yama - Guchi) : 山 (Yama) = mountain ; 口 (mouth) ; 山口 can also be pronounced 'Sanko' <\- same meaning as 'Yamaguchi'  
> 東峰 (Azuma - Ne) : 東 (Azuma) = east ; 峰 (Ne) = peak [of a mountain top] ; 東峰 can also be pronounced 'Higashimine' <\- same meaning as 'Azumane'
> 
> My creativity level < 0
> 
> All the things each kid has said in this chapter has been actual words a real, human child has said to me when I babysat them. Please don't tell me that kids would never say these things, because kids are weird.


	8. Tendou's Summer Festival

Date : August 22 1997

Time : 7:42 PM

Current Location : Streets of Shibuya Tokyo (during the summer festival)

Mission : Blend in with the muggles and wait till Ushijima takes Tendou home before fucking - bonus points if they can do both.

"What're you standin' there all on your own for, baby boy? My lap's got a free seat with your name on it."

Tendou looked up from the his program of the summer festival, four dangerously close, short, maybe early late teenage boys approaching him, the one at the front with a weird perverted smile on his face. Tendou raised an eyebrow, doing them a favour by pretending that the stupid pickup line wasn't said and looking back down at his program, trying to read it again but they weren't leaving.

"Aw, don't be cold like that, sweetheart. You'll look prettier if you smile."

Tendou hasn't been hit on before, but he has been followed around by the police before and the irritation running through his blood felt the same. He put the program down, finally looking at these boys properly, sighing loudly and in disgust.

He had to look down at them. Like, Tendou's neck bent as he looked them in the eyes, raising an eyebrow at all of them, not just the one at the front. Letting your friend use cringey pickup lines that won't work - you would be a really bad bystander, and an even more terrible friend.

"I'm going to act like I've never seen you before in my life," Tendou said calmly, giving them all a sweet smile that would look 'prettier' on his face than the disgusted look he wanted to give all of them. "You don't even need to say thank you, okay? Just go ahead and walk along. I won't stop you."

Tendou didn't let his gaze leave them, waiting for them to leave but none of them did, which was a bad choice honestly. If you've already been rejected then what was the benefit of staying longer? Wouldn't you look even more stupid?

"Come on, honey, don't you wanna know how a man handles you? Trust me, I'll make you forget all about women in a night."

Tendou actually laughed this time, taking a few steps closer to this trashy boy trying to pick up Tendou, leaning down provokingly, putting his hands on his hips. He cocked his head to the side, smirking down at him. The boy was taken aback a bit, but raised an eyebrow back at Tendou, probably thinking he actually had a chance.  
Undercut, purple streaks in his hair and various piercings in his ear - Tendou didn't know if he was a step away from being punk got or hasn't finished the emo phase he needed to go through for some character development.

"I can handle myself just fine, thank you," Tendou's voice was menacing despite not threatening to do anything. His face could show he was one step closer to punching this whole group of friends in the face.

"If you want to use those poor words on someone, maybe try a zoo. I think the animals will respond well to a mating call like yours."

"Tendou?" Ushijima came over with two bottles of water, curiously looking between the group of four guys and Tendou. If Tendou was significantly taller than all of them, then Ushijima was towering them. 

"Thank you, Waka-chan," Tendou said sweetly, linking his arm with Ushijima's and waving to the group of boys. "Don't get into too much trouble, alright? I have a blacklist with your face on it."

Ushijima was unsure what just happened, but Tendou didn't say anything about it as they walked into the festival, finally entering the crowd of people and mixing with them. Tendou was unsure what to expect from this place, but he was open minded.

"What happened back there?" Ushijima finally asked as him and Tendou both got used to the pace of the place, seeing how the street lit up in different colour lights, the stands of vendors selling things from foods to masks to toys, games where you could win prizes and people from all different places coming together to celebrate the end of the summer season and the beginning of a colder one.  
Tendou wondered if there were any other wizards around, enjoying this place.

"Oh, just some guys hitting on me, don't worry about it," Tendou shrugged casually, but he kept a side look to Ushijima, curious to what his reaction would be. Ushijima rarely got jealous or heated up so Tendou was sort of hoping for a reaction like that.

He could feel his heart beat a little faster when Ushijima stopped in the middle of the road, believing he was about to witness Ushijima jealous for the first time. He stopped as well, turning to see Ushijima's face scrunched up with concern, balling his fists at his sides.

"Where did they hit you?"

Tendou's mouth opened slightly, having to slap a hand over it to hold in his laugh when he easily realized the misunderstanding. Ushijima looked at Tendou even more confused, and a little bit annoyed as Tendou shook his whole body, holding in his laughter as Ushijima's stern face cutely changed into pouting. Tendou couldn't take it - of course that would be Ushijima's question.

"What is it?" Ushijima asked gruffly, turning around to the direction Tendou and him came from, looking like he was going to fight. "If they hit Tendou then I'll let them know that it was wrong of them. Tendou is too kind to say anything."

Tendou quickly grabbed Ushijima's arm before he could wander off, finally letting out his loud laughing, hugging Ushijima tightly while shaking his head. It should be illegal just how adorable Ushijima could be sometimes, but Tendou was just glad only he could see this side.

"Don't worry, Waka-chan, I handled it. I'm a big boy, you know?" Ushijima's expression showed that he was unconvinced, his eyes still narrow, probably thinking about the group of boys that 'hit' Tendou. However, instead of getting even more upset, Ushijima's face softened, cupping Tendou's cheek with one hand and looking down at him.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" 

The genuine sincerity in his voice made Tendou's heart leap with joy, shaking his head slowly as his smile only widened, not believing that someone like Ushijima was throwing out words like this casually.   
Tonight, Tendou wanted to see more of this.

"Right here hurts," Tendou whispered, pointing to his lips. "Can you kiss it better?"

A good thing about Ushijima though, was that he didn't get embarrassed that easy. So when he leaned down, pressing his lips to Tendou's, tenderly caressing his face while Tendou loosened his grip on Ushijima's arm so Ushijima could wrap it around Tendou's waist, there was no hesitation whatsoever. He didn't care about people who watched as they walked by, nor did he care about the whispers they got when two boys were kissing in public.  
Tendou has faced worse judgments in his life, and kissing the man he loved wasn't going to be one of the things bringing him down.

"Suga made us a guide so we know what we're doing," Tendou said as he pulled out a notebook from his side bag, showing Ushijima. They were off to the side of the festival, still unsure what exactly they were supposed to do, but also wanted to enjoy the summer festival.

Sugawara was the one who suggested the date idea to Tendou after Tendou told Sugawara he wished him and Ushijima could do something different this summer. Even though Sugawara said that it was a really big muggle thing and they would have to get used to the currencies and the way people talked, Tendou thought it would be a fun idea for him and Ushijima to get out and spend some time together.  
So Sugawara helped them, making both Ushijima and Tendou some yukatas (thanks to Sugawara's mom not minding sewing them new ones), lending them muggle money and writing down tips and social norms for them to follow while being out. Sugawara wished them both good luck before helping them find the summer festival, though it wasn't that hard considering how big it was, spreading from different streets and ending at temple where Sugawara said they were supposed to end at so they could pray for something.  
Tendou was excited to pray for whatever he wanted, though he wasn't too sure how it would work. Did he have to pay the guy he prayed to or...

"It says here that the foods are nonrefundable," Tendou pouted, looking at all the cart stations that sold food, all of it smelling good and making Tendou's stomach growl. But they had the whole night to themselves, so he decided to maybe wait a bit before they got to the meals.

"He gave us," Ushijima took the money out and counted it. "50,00¥, I think. Is that enough?""I hope so. Suga said it's usually how much he uses," Tendou shrugged, reading down Suga's guide to the summer festival, which Tendou named 'The SuSuGu' - short for 'Suga's Summer Guide'.

"Okay, so the games are all rigged," Tendou said, but it seemed Ushijima didn't quite understand. "So playing them is useless, we'll lose anyway.""Then what is the point of making the game in the first place?" Tendou shrugged, unsure about the that too, but it was apart of the SuSuGu.

"If you don't want to play the game, then don't," Tendou said, reading down the notebooks some more and humming, trying to find other things they could do. "He says there's a photography station too! We can take pictures together! Aw, but the photos don't move? That's weird," Ushijima even looked a little shocked to hear about the other world. Both of them were equally as inexperienced in with muggle interactions, so they had to make sure they at least knew the basics of things.

"Okay, the rest of this looks easy enough to follow. He also mentioned that if someone says something about us both being boys we should just ignore them. But I knew that," Tendou scoffed, closing the SuSuGu. Ushijima cocked his head to the side a bit, looking over at Tendou.

"Why would someone say something about us both being boys?"

Tendou opened his mouth then closed it, shaking his head with a small smile, Ushijima's surprising innocence unbreakable by Tendou - or rather, he didn't want to break it.

Ushijima was a pure blood, and even though Tendou technically was too (at least that's what his papers to the ministry said) Ushijima probably hasn't experienced one day of discrimination or prejudice yet considering his background. So Tendou understood why maybe in the wizarding world did Ushijima not have something said to his face, but they weren't in the wizarding world anymore. So he was a little worried how Ushijima would react if someone did say something.

"It's nothing. Everyone has something to say nowadays," Tendou waved his hand before taking Ushijima's, holding it and leading him back to the crowd where they could hopefully start having a little bit of fun.

"Come on, let's go. I wanna spend all of Suga's money because I don't know when he'll be this generous again!"

Even though they said they weren't going to do games, both their eyes couldn't help but trail to the different booths and stations with all kinds of challenges for a very low price (the game managers made it seem like that anyway) and the prizes available to win. Stuffed toys, plushies, accessories and one of them even gave away more money just by the guy guessing your age wrong.  
The games though, they were a little weird. Throwing a ball into a hoop? Shooting water into a hole? Throwing a ball at pins? Throwing a dart to a balloon? Wasn't this all a little too easy?

"I think Sugawara knows what he's saying when these games are 'rigged'. Maybe we should just keep going," Ushijima commented warily, Tendou watching as someone was throwing a big, bright orange ball into a hoop with a net attached to it. He was able to get 8 out of 10 shots in, but apparently that wasn't enough to get a prize. Tendou pouted, taking out the money Sugawara gave them and gave one bill to the game manager, completely ignoring Ushijima's mild protests.

"I'd like to try please!" Grinning, the game manager nodded, giving Tendou his change, which Tendou took and shoved into his pocket not even counting it, before standing in front of the booth, three orange balls ready for him to shoot.

"In 60 seconds you need to get at least 10 shots in the hoop, alright?" Tendou wasn't sure what was so hard about this, but this would be his first time trying it too. This couldn't be that different than getting a quaffle into a ring though, right? In Quidditch, Tendou was also 75 ft in the air, flying on a broom and having a charmed metal ball chasing him around and trying to knock him out - what would a few balls in a hoop be?

"Ready...start!"

The timer started and Tendou started throwing the balls into the hoop, using both hands and throwing with the same precision and skill he used during Quidditch matches, aiming before shooting and watching to see it go in.

The ball hit the rim of the hoop, bouncing right back at Tendou.

"Shit," Tendou cursed as he threw in more attempts to get the ball into the hoop, missing each time by an inch. He felt like he was doing right, and his aim wasn't off, his power seemed to be fine. It just kept going off by a little each time, Tendou ended up not shooting any.

"Man, you almost had it," the game keeper snapped as the timer beeped, ending Tendou's minute of chance. "I bet if you try again though, you'll win something."

Tendou could feel Ushijima's eyes behind him, burning the back of his head, probably not wanting Tendou to waste more money by trying the game again. But Tendou _was_ pretty close, wasn't he? And the prizes were cute, he would love to win Ushijima one of the cute teddy bears. So this wasn't for Tendou's pride or anything, this was for Ushijima.

"I'll try again!"

So Tendou tried. And tried. And tried again until he used one whole bill and ended up losing him and Ushijima a whole 10,00¥, now leaving them with 40,00¥ to use on food and souvenirs, which wouldn't be a bad thing if Tendou didn't literally waste that money on nothing.

"Good try kid," the game keeper shook his head in fake disappointment. "Maybe try again next year."

Tendou scowled, turning around to see Ushijima had started leaning on a tree a few metres away, yawning as he watched Tendou stomping angrily towards him. He threw his arms around Ushijima's neck, whining about how unfair that game was.

"I bet the balls were weighted! That's why I couldn't get a good angle with them..." Ushijima just nodded, patting Tendou's head. "There are many other things to experience here. We should try something else."

Now, Ushijima and Tendou were about to leave the game. However, when a little girl, not even up to Ushijima's knee, came up and pointed to a big plush toy of a penguin, begging her mom for it, Ushijima stopped and watched.

"Please mommy! I'll eat all my vegetables.""I'm sorry baby, but that's something mommy has to win. I'll buy you one for your birthday, alright?" Ushijima watched as the little girl pouted, but didn't cry, nodding her head as she sulked and held her mom's hand.

Ushijima didn't know what prompted him. Was it the cuteness? Or maybe it was the toy itself? Whatever it was, it made Ushijima let go of Tendou's hand and go back to the game, looking up at the game manager who scammed 10,00¥ out of Tendou, handing him another bill. The game keeper raised an eyebrow at him and chuckled, getting the timer started and giving Ushijima the orange balls.

"Waka-chan, it's too hard. Trust me," Tendou spat out, mainly trying to curse out the game manager, but he didn't want to attract too much attention. Ushijima just shrugged, waiting for the timer to begin as he held the ball up to his chest. The game manager explained the rules again to Ushijima before asking if he was ready, then finally starting the timer.

Ushijima ended up getting 15 in.

"Not bad, kid," the game manager snickered as he saw Tendou's shocked, flushed face behind Ushijma huffing. "You can choose whatever you want from the stand. I'm sure it'll be a nice reward, eh?"

Ushijima went to the penguin that the little girl was looking at, and by coincidence the little girl was still there with her mom, watching Ushijima up in awe. It turned out the the mother and daughter stayed when they saw Ushijima killing the game of basketball, getting almost all of the balls in the net. Ushijima held up the penguin to the game manage to let him know that that was the what he chose as the prize.

"Alright, no problem. Thanks for playing, kid!" The little girl who was staring at the penguin plush toy looked up at Ushijima, her eyes wide and glued on the penguin plush toy rather than Ushijima. Ushijima looked down at her then bowed his head a bit.

"Thank you," he said to the little girl before turning around and giving the penguin to Tendou. The penguin was blue, like a Ravenclaw, with slanted eyes that matched Tendou whenever Tendou teased Ushijima. It suited Tendou a lot, so when the little girl kept pointing at it and whining to have it, Ushijima's attention focused on the penguin and realizing that during this date, there were probably things Tendou wanted to keep as a good memory.  
Ushijima winning him this would make him happy, like how the little girl would've been happy if she had gotten it.

"Aw, Waka-chan," Tendou squealed, giving Ushijima a big kiss on the cheek, squeezing the penguin in his arms. "You're so good at everything, aren't you? Such a monster! You've never even played the game before yet you won! It's so cute, this penguin! I'm gonna put it in my room next to the cactus you gave me," Tendou gushed, the two walking off leaving the little girl penguin-less and the mom with a lesson for her daughter explaining that two boys can be together like mommy and daddy were.

Ushijima was just glad he got to see more of Tendou's smile.

"What kind of food is this?"  
"The sign says...tako...tako...takoyaki? Like, fried?" Tendou looked up at the food vendor, pointing to the balls of food in the pan. "Sorry, what is this?""Takoyaki! Traditional flour and octopus but we do have a vegetable version as well!"

The food was different too, and might've been the most difficult part of the night. Since they didn't have a good concept of the money yet, they didn't know what was worth it, but everything still looked amazing to eat. Ushijima was able to guess that the higher the number was on the price, the more money they would lose - that made sense, didn't it?

Their biggest problem was finding out that they needed to make sure the food they bought was worth it though, because unlike the wizarding world where it was easier to return food to the vendors and just have them do an undo spell to the food and let them manage their money better, muggles didn't have that luxury. Sugawara highlighted it in his SuSuGu - **do not ask for refunds no matter how badly you want one.** He probably put that rule on everything just to make things safe.

"Do you like octopus, Waka-chan?""I don't hate it," Ushijima shrugged, leaning down and inspecting the ball of octopus deep fried in flour. They both weren't picky eaters, so that definitely made the process easier, but that didn't mean they were just gonna eat anything either.

"This is..." Tendou squinted at the sign, "ika..ikayaki? Squid?""Fried squid in soy sauce!" The food vendor smiled, pointing to the different seasoned ones beside the regular soy sauced one. "We have spicy and sweet! Only 100¥ each, 400¥ for 5!" Tendou nodded, moving onto the next food. Small fried spheres with seaweed on it, golden brown on the edges and skewered on a stick.

"Waka-chan, what does that say?" Tendou pointed to the sign, unsure about the first character's pronunciation. "Agemochi?" Ushijima guessed, looking up at the sales vendor - the same one this whole time - nodding enthusiastically. "Yes! Deep fried rice cake! We have different flavours," she said, pointing to the side of the sign where different flavours were listed down with different prices each. "Please, take your time!"

Tendou and Ushijima did take their time, eyeing the delicious looking food, yet still a little skeptical. It seemed a little too cheap, a little too unhealthy and definitely something they would get addicted to too fast.

"Why is everything fried?" Tendou whispered to Ushijima, Ushijima shrugging in response. "Once in a while is okay, perhaps," Ushijima pointed out, which Tendou did agree with, but still. Maybe just because they weren't used to it, that's why it shocked them.

"Can we have 1 servings of each, please?" Tendou asked, pointing to the last three items that they observed, the takoyaki, ikayaki and the agemochi, wanting to try one of each at least, but not wanting to order too much in case they didn't like it. Even if they wanted more, they could just order again.   
The food vendor nodded enthusiastically, telling Tendou the total of it all. Tendou gave her the highest bill, getting the change back in several coins.

Now, a 'serving' of something usually is one, maybe two things that you could eat. A 'serving' is usually for one person to eat, whether it was a meal or a snack or a dessert of some sort. One serving = one person.

So why did Tendou and Ushijima end up with several Styrofoam boxes, in total 30 of them, stacked on each other in piles of three, tied with a rope to keep it together. They weren't even able to carry it all, they had to ask for a bag, which by the way costed them even more money. 

"I asked for one," Tendou mumbled, looking at all the food, maybe a total of 10 pounds since the lady also decided to add extra servings for them. Was a 'serving' different in the muggle world? Because last time Tendou checked, a 'serving' should have been one plate each. He didn't expect to end up with 5 times the food - so that also meant they spent 5 times the price.

"How much money do we have left?" Ushijima asked, Tendou taking out a single bill and a bunch of coins, giving them to Ushijima to count. Ushijima had a difficult time, but he ended up being able to sum it up, not finding it too difficult like before when he was completely new to the foreign currency.

"11....11,75¥? You spent 30,00¥ on food?""I didn't know she was going to give us a whole meal!" Tendou exclaimed, motioning to the 30 boxes of food. They both like they should've said something to the food vendor about how they didn't actually need that much, but then they remembered Sugawara's rule about no refunds. "Whatever, it's not like it went to waste. We're gonna eat it all anyway."

After finding an empty spot on the grass, sitting down for a little picnic for the two under the stars and the lights of the festival, they realized how their total ended up being more than they expected.

"Oh...""What exactly did you order?"

Tendou thought he pointed to three things, but apparently asking for '1 serving of each' translated to one serving of _everything_ on the lady's menu. Maybe that was why she was so happy to serve them.

"You didn't see her putting the food in?" Tendou shook his head, realizing they didn't only order what they wanted, but things they didn't want either, like crepes and fish and ice cream pops and pickled cucumbers - things that didn't really go together.

"What do we do with it?" Tendou asked softly, but he already knew Ushijima's answer. "We have to eat it all."

Maybe it was an exaggeration, considering the size of both Ushijima and Tendou, and the fact that they were both pretty active, they both should be able to finish 30 boxes of food, right? If you put them together, 15 boxes each, it didn't sound too bad.

"Waka-chan, my stomach's gonna-" Tendou groaned as he felt the food literally digesting inside of him, feeling like his heart was burning as he bit into another deep fried thing for the nth time that night. 

It didn't occur to them until after that their bodies weren't used to foreign food either.

"Don't finish it then," Ushijima said calmly, trying to get the fried banana covered in ice cream out of Tendou's hand, putting it back in the box. "We can just stop eating for now. We'll just carry it for the rest of the night.""No," Tendou coughed, leaning his head back. "My parents are gonna get mad if I bring back home muggle food. We have to finish it now."

Ushijima's stomach wasn't too bad, he just avoided anything that smelt funny to him, so he had time to take care of Tendou. "I'll take it home," he reassured Tendou, patting his back. Tendou looked like he was about to be sick. 

"No, I feel bad," Tendou held in a burp, feeling it go back in his throat which was the grossest thing ever, but Ushijima's face was too close to him that he didn't dare let anything weird come out of his mouth. "I ordered it. You shouldn't take all of it ho-" Tendou could feel the food coming back up his stomach, hitting the back of his throat. He shook his head, covering his mouth before jumping up and running to the nearest tree, hiding behind it and letting out the puke he'd been holding in for the past 20 minutes.

Ushijima didn't hold back and followed him, leaving all their stuff on the ground as he rubbed Tendou's back to make sure he was okay. It wasn't the first time Tendou has been sick in front of Ushijima, but it was definitely the first time Tendou's been sick in front of Ushijima on a date.

"Ugh, sorry," Tendou wiped his mouth when he finished, not wanting to see the mess he made in the ground and just turned around to give Ushijima a flushed look, chuckling nervously. Ushijima just shook his head, petting Tendou on the head.

"It's fine. As long as Tendou is okay," Ushijima reassured him, giving Tendou a sweet kiss on the forehead. Tendou decided to ignore the fact that Ushijima probably was going to avoid his lips for the next while, or until Tendou washed his mouth properly anyways.

"Are you okay to continue tonight?" Ushijima asked concerned, which made Tendou's mood do a full 180, nodding in response as he patted Ushijima's back. "Yes, yes. Just a bit of a stomach ache," Tendou hummed, the two of them walking back to their spot on the grass, packing up the food without question, figuring they were done eating for the night. "I'll tell you if I want to go home, don't worry. I just wanna spend as much time with Waka-chan as possible."

Later in life, Tendou would find out he had a whole wheat allergy, and deep fried food would never sit well with him as long as it was battered in flour.

"This is cute," Tendou and Ushijima were in the souvenir part of the fesitval, seeing the different artworks and trinkets you could buy in memory for the time you had at the festival. "What do you think, Waka-chan?"

Tendou was pointing to some handwoven bracelets, different colours and styles aligning with a charm at the end of the bracelets, some with a heart, some with a piece some, but most with a kanji character saying things like 'love' or 'good luck'. Tendou thought it was a bit cheesy, but they were matching, and the only thing Ushijima and him had matching so far was their school uniforms.

"Do you like it?" Tendou asked, looking up at Ushijima who had his eyes set on a few of them as well. The seller of the jewelry came up to them, smiling and pointing to each of the bracelets.

"They say if you buy a pair together, then you and the one you love will be together forever, in this life and the next," the seller said excitedly, Tendou smiling back nicely but in his mind he thought what the seller was saying was horseshit. "But you have to make sure their matching," the seller continued on, pointing to two bracelets, both of them black with the same style of weaving, but their pendants were different. One had the kanji character for 'yin' and the other for 'yang'. It was cute, but Tendou didn't think it had the power to make him and Ushijima love each other for all eternity.  
Tendou and Ushijima's love would make sure they loved each other for all eternity.

"You wanna get one, Waka-chan?" Tendou asked, looking down and picking a few of them up at a time, trying to see which ones would suit them the best. "How about it, hm? Then we can wear it every day until we get rings!" It was a stretch, talking about something like engagement rings at their age, but Ushijima's expression didn't change as he pointed to one of the bracelets.

"Let's get this one," Ushijima said confidently, pointing to two matching bracelets. "I think it would suit us the best." Tendou looked down at the one Ushijima was pointing at, raising an eyebrow at the choice.

"Purple?"

Ushijima was full of surprises all the time. Gardener, gentle spirited, tough during games - shy during sex. So Tendou should be used to Ushijima's weird outburst of cute actions, but yet here he was still getting surprised.  
Purple wasn't a bad colour though, he liked it a lot of course.

"Why purple?" Ushijima looked over at Tendou, pointing to his hair. "Tendou's red. Plus," Ushijima pointed to himself, "Waka-chan's Ravenclaw. It makes purple. So I think it would make a nice match."

Tendou took out the money from his pocket quickly, giving the seller the last bill and pointing at the purple bracelets. No way was he going to refuse Ushijima after an innocent claim like that.

"Thank you! You boys have a good rest of the festival!"

Tendou was holding up the bracelet up with a wide grin on his face, giggling excitedly as he admired the matching of it. It didn't occur to him till after that the pendant on the bracelet was a swan - elegant and soft, Tendou didn't think it represented their relationship that well.

"Why a swan, Waka-chan?" Purple and swan - it didn't exactly equal Tendou and Ushijima in his opinion, but it seemed to make Ushijima satisfied. Ushijima stopped them and went over to the side, taking one of the bracelets and putting it on Tendou's wrist. Tendou did the same for Ushijima.

"Swans represent good luck and longevity," Ushijima explained softly, watching Tendou put the bracelet on him intensely. "I want our love to be just that. With lots of good luck and lasting beyond this lifetime." Tendou looked up at Ushijima, his expression sincere, yet hard that it made Tendou chuckle a bit. Ushijima leaned down, bumping his head down on Tendou's before putting his hand down so he could hold Tendou's again.

"Even if these bracelets do not work, I am willing to pay whatever is needed for at least a chance to spend eternity with Satori."

Ushijima had to catch Tendou when his knees went weak. He wasn't exactly sure how he lasted the whole night without fainting.

"Do you go to the shrine during New Year, Waka-chan?"  
"No. But my grandfather does. He always prays for good health and fortune."  
"Guess it's working then, huh?"

The shrine was the last stop for Tendou and Ushijima. It was pretty late, apparently there was a fireworks show happening at midnight so everyone else was trying to find good seats. Ushijima and Tendou were alone there, looking up at the Shinto Shrine, admittedly intimidated by it for their first time. Apparently it symbolized a lot for the muggles in this area, not just for Japan, but for a lot of other surrounding countries. Even though they didn't 'believe' in it, it was still sacred for these people, making Ushijima and Tendou respect it without hesitation.

"Suga gave us instructions," Tendou snapped in remembrance, taking out his notebook - the SuSuGu - and reading out the page of 'The Shinto Shrine - Praying'. There was a proper way to do it, and to avoid being disrespectful, Tendou wanted to make sure they were following it right.

"Okay, so first," Tendou hummed softly, "'Drink the water at the front pavilion to cleanse yourself. Just a sip is fine unless you're actually thirsty. Then the gods won't mind if you drink a whole cup to yourself.'" Tendou looked up, finding the cups of water at the pavilion, a water fountain filling them to the brim. The cups had a long stick attached to them so you could retrieve them easily. Ushijima took the stick, giving Tendou the full cup of water, letting him drink half the cup and Ushijima finishing the rest. Tendou continued on with the instructions. 

"'Put some change into the big red box at the front.' How much change?" Tendou saw the big red box at the front, deciding to just take the rest of the money he had in his pocket and putting everything in. They had nothing else to buy anyway, so he didn't think too much of it. "Alright...'Ring the bell to ward off evil spirits'..." Tendou looked at the front, a bell right there in the middle. He reached out, ringing the bell loudly, looking around to see if something happened. He sort of wished a dementor would fly past them, but when nothing seemed to happen in front of their eyes, Tendou just shrugged and continued reading.

"'Two-two-one. Bow twice, clap twice, bow once. Before praying bow twice for respect, 90 degrees with your back straight. Then clap twice to get the gods's attention before you start praying. After you pray bow once again. Don't pray for anything dirty and don't curse or else they won't listen.' Dammit, what am I supposed to pray for now?" Tendou grumbled, shoving the notebook back into his bag.

Ushijima followed Tendou, only a few milliseconds behind as Tendou bowed twice, like the instructions, clapped loudly twice and then put his hands together in a praying position.

"Okay. Now we pray," Tendou nodded, giving Ushijima a small smile before squeezing his eyes shut. Ushijima was unsure what he was supposed to expect from this prayer, but he guessed it was apart of the experience. So he closed his eyes as well, putting his hands together and letting the gods hear him.

_"Good evening, gods. I apologize since I do not know much about you, yet I try to pray to you now in order to benefit. I hope you do not find it rude since I have lots to pray for, so please at least listen even if you do not intend to approach my prayers with consideration.  
_ _My name is Ushijima Wakatoshi. I will be a 6th year this year at Hogwarts. My house is Ravenclaw and my favourite class is Herbology. I am thankful for the seasons you have brought us and for the good health. My first prayer is that we'll continue to live healthily together for more seasons to come.  
_ _Do you happen to know my family as well? If so, I do pray for their safety and health as well. I am not there during the school year, and it is difficult for me to keep checking up on them. They tell me not to worry and to focus on my studies, but it is difficult for me to explain that my family is more important to me than my studies. I hope they understand this year and will allow me to help a little bit more so I can become a good son to them. My second prayer is for my family, and their providence. Please look after them.  
_ _Thank you for giving me Tendou Satori. My last prayer is that you will make sure Tendou is happy for the rest of his life, no matter the sacrifice. Sometimes I believe he does not tell me everything every time he feels unwell, mentally or physically. Perhaps it is my delusion, but I do truly believe there is more that I can do for him. I am eternally grateful for him in my life, and I will not hesitate to give him whatever he needs.  
_ _So please, please, please, if I have lots of good luck this year, pass it to Tendou. And if I have any bad luck, please do not let it affect Tendou. If he has good luck this year, please make sure he does not give any to me. I would appreciate if Tendou have a good year, and many years to come. I promise to treat him well.  
_ _I am unsure how to end this prayer, however I would just like to remind you that my name is Ushijima Wakatoshi and I am a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Please listen to my prayer and have a good evening."_

Ushijima clapped once and bowed, opening his eyes.

_"Dear gods. What's up. I'm not sure if you know me, but I'm Tendou Satori. My friend Sugawara Koushi prays to you at least 5 times a year, so maybe you've heard of me before? If it was him asking you to make me stop bulling Suga, then I'll have you know that your powers do actually work. So maybe you can help me with my prayers.  
_ _First, my family and my health. I pray that you would show my family a little mercy, even though we've been living a pretty good life. My dad is really, really, really close to getting caught by the ministry of magic and I do not feel comfortable with him going to Azkaban. Because if he goes to Azkaban then I'll be inspected too, you know? I don't know how much you know about me, but that place is not for me. So, yeah, please think of the both of us._ _  
__Secondly, the school year coming up. My boyfriend is really smart, and I'm not stupid or anything, but it would very nice if my grades could go up a percent or two? Maybe give me an easy teacher this year? That would be cool.  
_ _Speaking of my boyfriend, Waka-chan is the one beside me praying as well. I pray that the two of us will spend the rest of our lives together, and we'll have a big house in the provinces where we can raise 3 kids and a dog. I pray that Waka-chan will be very happy this year and we can spend lots of time together even though we're in different houses. I also pray we'll have lots of classes together! Please gods, hear my prayer! Waka-chan and I are a very good couple and would never do anything to defy you. Other than doing witchcraft, but you don't have to remember those details.  
_ _Anyway, I guess see you later or whatever. I'm not sure how you're supposed to end these prayers. Keep up the good work..?_

Tendou clapped once before bowing and opened his eyes, grinning widely when he saw Ushijima already looking at him.

"Would you like to watch the fireworks?"  
"Nah, I wanna head home, they're probably not as good as the ones during the Quidditch games anyway. My parents aren't home, by the way."  
"Oh? Did you forget your key?"  
"Waka-chan, I'm suggesting you come over and we fuck."  
"Oh...okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So these past chapters were, I guess, a bit of a recap of what happened in the last story (which if you didn't read I do suggest you do so you understand a little more about what's happening ^^). I'm not sure if you could tell but there is a little more plot to this, and it will get a bit more complicated in terms of relationships and story. I hope I'll be able to write it well, keep it interesting and easy to follow as well as making it fun for everyone! Hopefully everyone will enjoy what I do with this story and we can enjoy our HaikyuuxHarry Potter AU!!
> 
> Feedback and suggestions are always more than welcome <3 Everyone please be safe and take care! Until next time~


	9. Everyone's Back To School

Date : September 1 1997

Time : 6 PM

Current Location : The Great Hall of Hogwarts

Mission : Not start a war on the first day of school.

"Welcome back, welcome back. Yes, yes, we're all excited to be back here at Hogwarts. Thank you for joining me here tonight, together, like the family we are. For those who do not know me, I am headmaster Akaashi, and I welcome everyone here warmly to the new school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

There were loud cheers everywhere, the Gryffindor table banging their fists and stomping, the Hufflepuffs clapping and a few 'whoo's here and there, the Ravenclaws applauding respectfully and most of the Slytherins eyeing the the headmaster with a few claps here and there. Like a regular day at Hogwarts, no one was surprised of the different behaviours of each house.

"We all know the drill. There will be a sorting, which I'm sure everyone is excited for," there was a loud cheer from the students, a few of the first years at the front nervously looking around at the rowdy crowd (the rowdiness mainly being from the Gryffindors). "Then we have a few announcements, some words from our stunning staff here at Hogwarts, another few words from me, and then finally, we feast." The cheers roared again through the students, the headmaster needing to lift his hand to get them to stop quickly. If there was a cheer every time someone was excited then they would be here all night.

"I appreciate everyone here who has come out, every single student that has attended till now, every single staff member who has put in their hard work and energy to the things they teach our amazing students, and every person in this room who has made the years at Hogwarts possible, the most enjoyable and memorable moments, creating a family with each other when we are away from the families at home."

Everyone was quiet now, the tone of headmaster Akaashi's voice solemn and low. Even Akaashi wasn't sure what was happening, his dad's expression suddenly turning down. Was there something wrong? He hasn't heard of anything happening.

"Before we start off the night," headmaster Akaashi cleared his throat. "There is very important news that must be shared. News that will come to shock to everyone, news that will not be liked, but important news. And I would appreciate dearly if everyone were to listen."

The silence continued on, the tension in the room becoming heavy as everyone anticipated this 'news' headmaster Akaashi needed to announce. The whole Ravenclaw table looked at Akaashi, but no one opened their mouth to ask what it was, because they could see it in Akaashi's face too.  
Akaashi didn't know what was going on either.

"If anyone has been reading the paper lately, you would have noticed that these days, muggles are nearing the knowledge of magic existence. Muggles who have no business with us, who have no interest in us, and have no intention of keeping this knowledge to themselves. Several magical creatures in the past week alone have been hunted, slaughtered, murdered and used. Wizards and witches themselves have been kidnapped and abused by horrid muggles who wish to use magic to their advantage. These happenings have occurred one too many times, and the Ministry of Magic, along with the Board of Wizarding Education have come to a conclusion."

Even though it wasn't intentional. Even though no one meant to. Even though they were his friends and they understood that you couldn't control who your parents were and they understood that he had absolutely nothing to do with what they were up to-

Everyone was looking at Bokuto.

"We have come to the conclusion," headmaster Akaashi repeated, his voice slightly shaking, just barely, but some could tell there was hesitation in his voice. "That this school year," he cleared his throat, looking up from his paper, taking a deep breath as he looked into the face of all of his students at Hogwarts.

"We will be separating the muggle born from the wizard born. This school year, muggle-born students will be sent to a different school, fulfilling their education in a different location."

Of course no one was quiet. There was a roar of gasps and murmurs, people turning to their friends and asking what that meant, how people were reacting, mutters and whispers all around.   
Even though everyone thought they were quiet, the noise accumulated and headmaster Akaashi had to amplify a clap to get everyone to quiet down again.

"Silence!" He bellowed out, getting everyone's attention once more. All the students looked up at him, but even they could see that headmaster Akaashi didn't like this idea any more than they did.

"I know," he started saying when the room was quiet again. "This isn't an ideal situation. However, the Ministry of Magic and the Board have all agreed that this is the safest way to make sure that no student is targeted, even if they are not at Hogwarts." 

There were glances around the room, the first target being Akaashi. Was his dad serious? They were actually going to split up Hogwarts? Why, because a few muggles got their hands on some magical creatures? Did Akaashi know? Did Akaashi know his boyfriend was going to be sent away to a different school, separating them for a whole school year?  
Was Akaashi just a spy for his dad?

The second victim was of course easily Bokuto. Thanks to shitty teenagers and lots of rumors, news about Bokuto's parents being magic hunters was known throughout the school by the time Bokuto was in his 3rd year. And at first he didn't mind too much. If someone approached him he would simply tell them that he had no relations to his parents anymore and then they would lose interest when they realize that Bokuto's life wasn't as juicy as they thought.  
But now, Bokuto could hear the stares. The whispers from table to table, talking about how Bokuto's parents were probably out hunting the wizards, lies about how they found out they had a son who was a wizard and was now out for the whole wizarding world, seeking revenge.  
What scared Bokuto the most though, was that there wasn't any proof yet that any of them were wrong.

Surprisingly, Kuroo was another person people started whispering about. Being a half blood meant that Kuroo was getting sent away too, right? And Kuroo didn't exactly hide the fact that his home life wasn't the luxury life Akaashi lived, or the loving household that maybe Hinata had. At first he wasn't sure why people were staring at him, figuring it was because he was sitting beside Bokuto and was by nature associated with him.  
"You hear about his mom? She always writes to him about debt. She's probably getting loads of money by hunting magics!"  
Kuroo's jaw clenched, turning around and glaring at the Ravenclaw who said it, sticking up his middle finger. Kenma was sitting on the other side of the table, his eyes slightly widened, but he looked away. Kuroo didn't blame him though - those fuckers knew nothing about his life anyway.

"Muggle born does mean half bloods as well," headmaster Akaashi confirmed, settling everyone down with a wave of his hand. "We also will consider any suspicious behaviours that have happened at Hogwarts. This will include the following," he cleared his throat, going down the list. "Those who have been suspended. Those who have practiced dark magic outside of Hogwarts. Those who have interests in muggle studies despite being born and raised in a magical family," the third one got everyone murmuring again, wondering what exactly that meant, but headmaster Akaashi was quick to silence everyone. "And finally, those who have unknowingly broken any laws under the Ministry of Magic. We'll be doing further inspections later in the week to explain in more detail, but just know that this separation isn't just a separation of blood. It is a separation of danger in order to keep all of us safe. So please, try to understand and bear it. Each and everyone of us will suffer this year because of this separation. Please don't think I don't know this."

There was another flood of noise in the room, and this time, headmaster Akaashi allowed a few minutes of it.

"Kageyama," Hinata whimpered softly, looking beside him to see what Kageyama's reaction was. The cold, blank stare was unsettling, but by now Hinata understood that Kageyama was in utter shock and panic. "We-We're not gonna-""Don't say it," Kageyama whispered softly, shaking his head. He banged his fist on the table making Hinata flinch, then grabbed Kageyama's arm. "I won't let them-""Boke," Kageyama spat, looking down at Hinata with a scary stare that made Hianta shiver as well.   
"You think I was gonna let them take you away?! Never!"

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were safe, right? Right?  
Besides the fact that Yamaguchi was originally a Squib and wasn't supposed to be in Hogwarts right now. If Tsukishima's dad never faked his letter, Yamaguchi would've never been here.   
Then again, Yamaguchi could do magic. That wasn't suspicious at all, he was a good wizard.   
Still, Tsukishima couldn't help but look over at the Hufflepuff table, seeing how Yamaguchi looked indifferent to the news. It seemed like he wasn't too worried about what was happening either. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were both pure bloods - they would be fine.

Kuroo didn't look at Kenma and Kenma didn't look at Kuroo. They both knew Kuroo would be sent away now. They both knew he wasn't a full pure blood. If this was how the new school year was going to be, then both of them would grin and bear it.  
Even if it was totally unfair and undeserving.

Bokuto gulped as he glanced over at the Ravenclaw table, wondering how Akaashi was taking the news as well. It was obvious Bokuto was being sent away, but it seemed like Akaashi had no idea about any of this, his mouth still slightly opened in shock, Akaashi's eyes dead on his father. It seemed that headmaster Akaashi had kept this completely confidential, rightfully so, and now even Akaashi wasn't sure how to react.  
"At least we have each other," Kuroo whispered to Bokuto, but Bokuto could hear in Kuroo's voice that that wasn't the main issue right now. Muggle born and magic born were getting separated? If that didn't scream segregation then Akaashi's tutoring sessions were for nothing.

Nishinoya's reaction might've been the loudest in the whole room. And it was a pretty big room.  
He yelled, whipping his head over at the Hufflepuff table where Asahi was just looking at the front like the biggest news of the school year didn't just drop. Asahi was a half blood, meaning that he was getting sent away too.   
Asahi was being taken away from Nishinoya this year. The second last year they had together here at Hogwarts, and Asahi wasn't going to be there.   
"Asahi-san!-""Noya, sit down," Daichi hissed, pulling Nishinoya back down from his seat to make sure he didn't cause a commotion. Nishinoya deflated, not taking his eyes of off Asahi as Asahi finally looked at him, giving him a small smile and a shrug.  
They would definitely need to talk about this later.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were both pure bloods. They were both completely relaxed and calm as everyone was making a commotion. Maybe this was a sign that Oikawa and Iwaizumi were really made for each other.  
"Iwa-chan, hold my hand," Oikawa demanded brattily. "I wanna show off my hot boyfriend."  
Iwaizumi hit Oikawa in the back of the head, but eventually did hold Oikawa's hand later in the night when one too many first years were gawking at Oikawa.

Sugawara and Daichi made eye contact from their tables, visibly gulping and taking deep breaths together. This meant Sugawara would be sent away as well. Sent away where though? Was it at least close to Hogwarts? Would they be able to write to each other? Would Daichi and Sugawara see each other at least once during the school year? Many unanswered questions, but there was no one to ask.

Tendou was nervous. Tendou was so nervous, Sugawara had to hold his leg to stop Tendou from shaking, and whispered a very blunt, "you're sweating so much, it looks like you got out of the ocean."  
Tendou was technically a half blood. His dad wasn't magic or anything, but in order to avoid confusion he put down he was a wizard in his files so that he could live in the wizarding world with his mom. But he wasn't a wizard. He was a werewolf, a very illegal creature for some reason, and now Tendou wasn't sure where he fell in this.  
Would he be sent away? Would he be discovered? Would someone find out about him and report him?  
If he was sent away, who was going to spend his full moons with him?  
It seemed that Ushijima had a similar worry, all the way from the Ravenclaw table looking over at Tendou. He made a fist, shaking it once at Tendou which Tendou understood completely, relaxing a little bit and nodding his head.  
'Stay strong'.

"Please, let me finish. I will end off on a good note so we are not all saddened during the sorting and the feast. For those who are directly affected, we will be sending out letters and information regarding your transfer to a different school. If you must," headmaster Akaashi used his wand to pull out a sheet of parchment from thin air with bold letters saying 'Interview Sign Up' at the top.   
"Please write your name under here and we can discuss issues about this change. If there is anything Hogwarts can do for you, I'm sure we'll be able to do anything in our power to accommodate."

Surprisingly, no one was talking after that. Headmaster Akaashi was half expecting more ruckus, but when the room remained silent he gave a firm nod of approval and continued on.

"Even though this separation of students is a big one, I would like to note that there will be one gathering this year, to make sure that we do not forget that Hogwarts is still one school, despite the division we will face this year. So," headmaster Akaashi cleared his throat, "on Halloween this year we will have a celebration. Those who were sent away will be allowed to come back for the night. It will be a reminder that Hogwarts does not see blood as an issue to your magical abilities, and that we do rise together, are stronger together, and rejoice together. Especially at times when it matters most."

There was a small cheer, a little nod here and there, but many students still weren't very happy. Halloween at Hogwarts was always a big deal, having a big feast, lots of decorations about and even sometimes parties in each house that would go up till 3 in the morning, even the teachers would join in. So having a huge celebration on Halloween made sense.  
Still, once in the year they were allowed to be together? It just didn't seem like enough.

"I understand," headmaster Akaashi repeated. "This situation isn't ideal. These circumstances, for lack of a better word, suck. However, these are the necessary precautions we must take to make sure every student at Hogwarts is safe. And do not worry, there will be Hogwarts staff to join you in the process of going to a new school, if you are a student involved in the transfer. So please, everyone, cooperate. Then this year will end off smoother and next year we can appreciate more of each other, and realize just how important it is to stay together not just as a race, but as people altogether. Understood?"

The silence was heavy in the room. No one agreed in particular, not even everyone completely understood. Was this really necessary? Splitting up the school from pure bloods and muggle born? Is that the real right way to handle this situation?

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. All the students knew was that the decision has been finalized by the board, by the ministry, and they couldn't do anything to stop it, and everything they were doing was for the safety of the students. So how could they refuse when the decisions the adults made were for the best interest of the kids?

Bokuto was the first one. Taking his wand out and holding it high up, saluting to headmaster Akaashi. Daichi followed, taking his wand out and holding it high to the ceiling, a firm look on his face.  
The whole Gryffindor table joined shortly after, followed by Sugawara who led the Slytherin table to the salute (and a begrudging Oikawa who joined in when Iwaizumi hit hs arm), then the Hufflepuff table and finally the Ravenclaws.

Akaashi was the last one. He didn't agree with this conclusion, he didn't agree with his father.   
And his father knew this. Everyone's wand was up except for his son's, not letting that go unnoticed. Akaashi could feel that he wasn't going to move on until Akaashi also saluted, and even though Akaashi didn't want to, he did.   
He held his wand up in the air, nodding firmly at his dad despite hating every molecule in his body right now. 

"Thank you. For understanding," headmaster Akaashi bowed to the students, once each for every table. When he got back up his face was twisted, like he didn't want to be there suddenly and didn't like how everyone was easy to agree to this.  
But what was done was done, and there was no turning back now on the decision.

"Now, let us continue with our traditional first day of schools. I would like to call up the first years to get sorted into your houses."

"Are you sure this is happening? This can't be happening..."

Hinata's state of panic had been going on, even through the feast where Hinata is usually so invested in the food that he doesn't have time to worry or talk. But it seemed that being taken away from Hogwarts was enough to get him to talk for the whole evening.

"That means it's Natsu and I, Kageyama! Do you think my mom has to pay more? She has to pay double then! And-And where am I even going? Do you think it's gonna be like a camp? Oh no...do you think they'll send me to the Forbidden Forest again? I can't go back there, it was terrifying! If I go then Kageyama has to go to-" Kageyama hit the top of Hinata's head hard to get him to shut up.

"Quit that! Just-Just quit it, okay?" Kageyama growled, scratching his head hard as he scowled. The two of them were on their way to the Gryffindor tower, and they were supposed to get excited about how their beds were beside each other again this year (they always got first pick of course) but now there were other things to talk about.

"So mean! Are you not freaking out? Are you not upset that I'm being _sent away_ this year?"

Kageyama was freaking out - internally.

He had to think about what this meant for the whole school and for him and Hinata. It didn't sound as bad at first when he thought about it. Just a whole school year, right? 10 months? Then during the holidays they could meet up, Halloween there would be a big party, and they could write to each other.

But then Kageyama thought about it some more and he realized - Hinata and him would be _apart_ for a whole 10 months. Summers were handled well since they knew they would see each other in September again, and they had the luxury of meeting up whenever they wanted to. Getting separated during the school year though, where would Hinata be? Would they even have time to write to each other? Would Hinata be sent far?

"Kageyama-""I'm thinking," Kageyama cut him off quickly, sighing loudly as he stopped in the middle of the hallway, letting the juniors pass by them as they also discussed what was happening. "Just...Just let me think."

Thinking was so hard. Kageyama had absolutely no idea what to expect and therefore had no clue what to do. This would be the first school year for him and Hinata where they weren't glued together, and he wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.

"Halloween! Halloween! Don't forget, the big Halloween celebration coming! Let's celebrate together and have fun as a family! Here, take a flyer!" Yachi - a little Hufflepuff that were in the same year as Kageyama and Hinata - was handing out sheets of paper with lots of decoration and colour on it, smiling widely as she put it everyone's hand. Yachi was a half blood, so she would be sent away too.

"Ah, Hinata-kun," Yachi giggled when he saw him, handing him a flyer and Kageyama one too. "Don't forget about the Halloween get together for Hogwarts, alright? I'm on the party team committee! It's gonna be a real treat!"

Hinata looked down at the flyer, the different pictures moving side to side slowly in unison, a jack-o-lantern, a skeleton, a stereotypical witch. He read the few words on it, mainly just 'good food' and 'fun games', but something else caught his eye.

"The Whomping Willow is off limits this year?" Hinata asked curiously, Yachi nodding her head, a serious expression occupying her face. "Yeah, didn't you hear? There's a lunar eclipse on Halloween this year! So it's gonna be extra scary to go out to that dangerous tree!"

The Whomping Willow was a massive tree, over centuries years old and attacked anything that came near it with it's thick branches, hitting almost everything too close to it without hesitation.  
And it was the best part of Hogwarts besides Kageyama if you asked Hinata.

"Man," Hinata groaned, crumpling the flyer up angrily. "If this year couldn't get any worse!"

As he said that some first year accidentally flicked his wand in the wrong direction, hitting Hinata in the back of the head and knocking him out. Kageyama had to carry him up to their dorm.

"Tsuki, are you okay? You seem...distracted."

Tsukishima was very distracted. Headmaster Akaashi mentioned 'suspicious' students, which could mean a lot if he thought about it. Yamaguchi showing up in his second year of Hogwarts like the he wasn't supposed to magically get one in his first year definitely screamed suspicious.  
Yamaguchi didn't do anything wrong though. He's never done anything to get him suspended, hasn't even been to the principles office. The first punishment Yamaguchi has gotten, maybe in his whole life, was last year, and that was more so a group effort.

"Tsuki?"

Or maybe Tsukishima would get sent away. It was his dad that forged the Hogwarts letter in the first place, right? Tsukishima was the one who get suspiciously good grades without any motivation. But this was all his dad's doing, wasn't it? It shouldn't have involved Tsukishima. And even if Tsukshima was sent away, his dad would have a say in it because Tsukishima was a good kid to most adults. None of this would be fair.

"Tsuki!"

Tsukishima finally turned his head, looking down at Yamaguchi and gulping when Yamaguchi was looking at him concerned and a bit upset. Was Yamaguchi calling him for a long time?

"Oh. Yes?" Tsukshima blinked a few times down at Yamaguchi before Yamaguchi smiled at him, shaking his head. "Nothing. You just don't look okay. I was getting worried," Yamaguchi said softly. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima weren't 'out' yet, so Yamaguchi knew he wasn't allowed to get to clingy or touchy in public, but sometimes Tsukishima did wish he could just kiss him in the middle of the hallway without a care in the world.

"Yama-kun, you're going to the Halloween party, aren't you?" Yachi handed the flyer out of nowhere to Yamaguchi, smiling brightly up at him. "We're even gonna have a lot of prizes there to win, so don't forget to bring your game face!" Yamaguchi looked down at the cheesy flyer, nodding as a polite gesture. He wasn't sure if he was going to celebrate Halloween this year unless Tsukishima wanted to. Other than that it wouldn't be fun.

"Uhm, Tsukishima-kun?" Yachi tried handing Tsukishima a flyer well but Tsukishima stared her down with a very unfriendly expression, making the poor girl shake and back away. "I-I'll see you in the common room, Yama-kun," she whimpered softly before scurrying away. Yamaguchi didn't really pay attention or see her face scared of Tsukishima, but he probably wouldn't have cared too much anyway.

"Are you gonna go to this?" Yamaguchi asked, showing Tsukishima the flyer. It had a lot of colour and too many photos, Tsukishima was more intrigued by the 'Ghastly Ghost Show' and "Whomping Willow - OFF LIMITS' pieces of text. He raised an eyebrow, taking the flyer.

"If I don't go, what will you do?"

Tsukishima was praying. There was something in his chest telling him he knew the answer, but god, did he not want to hear it. His heart clenched when he saw Yamaguchi's face do that thing, where Tsukishima asked a question with an obvious answer, his shocked look when Tsukishima asked a question that should have been unasked because they both knew.

"If Tsuki doesn't go," Tsukishima held his breath as Yamaguchi looked up at him, "then I'm not going either."

Kuroo found Kenma. Kenma didn't look for Kuroo.

"Kenma-" Kenma kept walking past the crowd, able to dodge every body swiftly while Kuroo had to push his way through the students just to make sure that he could keep his eyes on Kenma. With his dyed hair, it wasn't too difficult, but he had to admit that Kenma was much faster than he thought.

"Kenma!" Kuroo called out louder, but Kenma kept walking, trying his best not to look back. Kuroo couldn't understand what was going on through Kenma's mind, but whatever it was he needed it to stop. 

If Kuroo was going to get sent away then Kenma and him needed to talk about this. They needed to spend as much time together as possible before he left and they needed to make sure that whatever happens it wouldn't affect their relationship.  
So why was Kenma running away?

"Kenma, look at me, goddammit!"

The whole hallway stopped, Kuroo's voice echoing and everyone looking at him. 

Well, everyone except for Kenma. 

Kenma did stop though. He stopped walking, his back to Kuroo, not wanting Kuroo seeing him as hurt as he was. It was stupid, he's spent 10 whole fucking years without Kuroo before coming to Hogwarts, and 3 wonderful ones letting Kuroo chase after him. Now they're not gonna see each other for 10 months and he's feeling like shit? Fucking pathetic.  
And it wasn't like Kuroo was dying or anything. It was a school year! They could write to each other, visit each other during the holidays. Hell, Halloween they would throwing a big ass party! Kenma had no right to be sad, no reason to feel this depressed for being separated from Kuroo for his 5th year at Hogwarts.

"Look at me," Kuroo had walked up to Kenma already, grabbing his arm and making Kenma turn around, but Kenma pushed his hard. "Fuck you-""Look at me Ken-""Did you know?"

Kenma's eyes were wide, looking up at Kuroo. They went from agitated to aggressive in a split second when he saw Kuroo's confused expression. "What-""Did you fucking know you were leaving me this year?" Kenma asked again, pushing Kuroo's chest harder before yanking his arm away from Kuroo. "Did you know about this?""What are you saying? Of course I didn't know! Come on Kenma, grow up."

Kenma gritted his teeth, glaring up at Kuroo before pushing his chest harder again, actually making Kuroo stumble backwards this time, and not even because he was surprised.

"Kenma-""So annoying. Everyone's annoying," Kenma huffed, turning around and storming off. This was stupid, everything was annoying, Kuroo didn't understand what he was feeling.

Kuroo was going away. Shouyou was going away. Kenma, well, Kenma just didn't want to be left alone again. Was that so wrong of him?

"Did you know?"  
"No."  
"Would he have told you?"  
"No."

Bokuto and Akaashi were sitting at the front of the school, on the ground, staring up at the sky. There were no visible stars in the sky, and the moon was high up in the sky. That night, it was a crescent. 

"I'm sor-""Don't apologize," Akaashi cut Bokuto off right away. He hated seeing Bokuto's depressed face, and even though he usually knew how to handle his mood swings, this one was a real tough bone to pick.

Because none of this was Bokuto's fault, yet he felt like it was. And contrary to popular belief, it might've also looked like Bokuto's fault too.

"But my parents-""Are not you."

Akaashi couldn't look at Bokuto properly. After meeting his parents over the summer, Akaashi didn't understand yet understood so much more than before. Bokuto would never admit that his parents were terrible people.   
And if Akaashi thought about it, they weren't. They were people. They made a decision, weren't educated, didn't know about the harm they were actually doing to a world that wasn't theirs.   
Bokuto's parents were doing something wrong and wretched. But at the end of the day, they were still people.

"Bokuto-san," Akaashi sighed softly, reaching up and stroking Bokuto's hair. Bokuto didn't hesitate leaning into his touch, closing his eyes as he exhaled blissfully. Maybe Akaashi would never understand, but that was okay if he didn't. Bokuto didn't need Akaashi to understand. He just needed Akaashi to be there.

"Bokuto-san. Maybe if I talk to my dad then you'll be able to stay," Akaashi tried to convince the both of them that was possible, but Bokuto was smarter than before, shaking his head.   
"No," Bokuto whispered back. "That's unfair to everyone else that has to leave. I think it's better that I go with everyone else. It wouldn't look good for your dad, and besides, it's not a very nice thing to do to use your privilege like that."

Privilege. Did Akaashi have privilege? He never thought he did. He was young. A boy who liked boys. He struggled sometimes, wasn't very social, and had a hard time with emotions and words. He didn't think he had a hard life.  
But privileged? He's never thought about it before.

"Bokuto-san, I really want you to stay with me," Akaashi whispered softly, leaning his head on Bokuto's shoulder. He really wished that there were stars out that night, so he could tell Bokuto which ones to look out for on the nights they weren't together.

"I want to too," Bokuto whispered back. "But we both knew this was going to happen eventually."

Akaashi didn't ask what Bokuto meant by that, but he had a strange feeling he already knew. 

"I'm not letting them take you away! You're staying here!" Nishinoya charged through the hallways of the school, barking at anyone who crossed him, kicking a few bricks in the walls and shoving a few 3rd years out of the way. 

This was the shittiest day Nishinoya has experienced, and Asahi has friend zoned him before!

"Noya-kun, please-""Don't worry Asahi-san! I'm gonna make sure you stay here at Hogwarts! I'll make sure no one touches you, and we'll stay here together!"

Asahi was chasing Nishinoya down the hallway, losing his breath when Nishinoya literally jumped on top of people, moving them to the side and making room for himself. He was heading to the headmaster's office, ready to give headmaster Akaashi a piece of his mind about this new school year.

Muggle born and magic born separated. Asahi and Nishinoya separated. It was a terrible thought, Nishinoya was rampaging just picturing Asahi being sent away.

"Move over, fuckers!" Nishinoya growled at a group of kids clogging the hallway, not caring that he had to break his neck a little just to loook up at them. His stare intensified as one of them tried to look him down, but Nishinoya just took out his wand and pointed it at their chest.

"Fucking try me.""Noya-kun!" Asahi came up to him, taking Nishinoya's wand out of his hand, but that was fine. Nishinoya didn't need a fucking wand. Nishinoya was powerful, more powerful than anyone in this hallway and he knew that.

"Don't test me, fucking kid," Nishinoya spat, his hand clenching in a fist which made the torches in the hallway flicker, then suddenly the fires flamed high up, making everyone in the hallway scream, including the group of students in Nishinoya's way. 

"Noya-kun!" Asahi finally snapped, taking Nishinoya's hand and making him turn around. Nishinoya's face was flushed, panting softly as he looked up at Asahi with an angry look, wondering why Asahi was stopping him.  
Actually, he knew why. He just thought Asahi would know by now he didn't want to be stopped.

"Noya-kun, this isn't worth it. It's just a school year." Nishinoya's eyebrows furrowed, looking up at Asahi. "'Just a school year'?" Nishinoya hissed back, stepping forward which made Asahi step back. The taller gulped as Nishinoya's angry face just reddened, worried about if he was gonna hit a dead end any time soon while the rest of the students got out of the way.

"'Just a school year'," Nishinoya repeated and scoffed in disbelief. "Just a school year for what? Because your mom is a muggle. Know your rights, Asahi-san!" 

Asahi knew he was right. He knew Nishinoya had a point and the mindset was there. But this battle, it really wasn't worth it. It was too big, too big for the two of them and too much for them to handle. Nishinoya has been in trouble before, he's been taken back before and he's definitely done things that made the headmaster (the whole school board for that matter) not want to listen to him.

"I do know my rights," Asahi sighed, rubbing his head a bit in both stress and worry. "So we should also know theirs, Noya-kun. Trust me. It's not worth it."

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were chilling in the Slytherin common room, munching on some cereal some half blood smuggled in. Oikawa asked for it and ended up giving it to Iwaizumi, and they both slowly got addicted.

"What is it made out of again?"  
"Uhhh...honey."  
"The same stuff you put in your tea?"  
"Yeah, I think so."  
"Wicked."

Oikawa had no reason to worry about losing Iwaizumi. And Iwaizumi shouldn't have any reason to worry about losing Oikawa. So why did it still feel like the both of them were missing something. Like there was a big joke to this and Oikawa and Iwaizumi were the punchline.

Their messed up, weird relationship was a little too calm, and both of them could feel the tension rising. But what was it though? 

"You think you'll at least get inspected?" Iwaizumi asked, Oikawa raising an eyebrow at him. "For?""I don't know. You can make a whole table fly around the room just because we got separate-""Sh!" Oikawa quickly cut Iwaizumi off. "We don't talk about that!"

They didn't talk about it. They didn't talk about the fact that Iwaizumi was supposed to be in Ravenclaw, but after Oikawa threw a tantrum they both ended up in Slytherin. They haven't talked about it, they never talked about it. Even their parents to this day didn't know the full story.

"I mean, don't you think it's gonna come up?" Iwaizumi pointed out, because being able to have some sort of magic like that, where you didn't even need a wand to possess so much power - wasn't that a little suspicious? Even just a _little_.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," Oikawa sang out happily before getting ready to throw a piece of cereal in Iwaizumi's mouth. "Catch, Iwa-chan!" Iwaizumi opened his mouth, letting Oikawa throw the cereal into his mouth, catching it of course. "Nice!"

Oikawa wasn't gonna bring it up, because it wasn't necessary to bring it up. He was gonna be sent away for being 'too wizard'? If anything that was more of a reason to stay at Hogwarts, not leave.

"Heyo," Tendou greeted both Iwaizumi and Oikawa as he entered the Slytherin common room, watching the two of them with the honey cereal and grabbing a fistful without asking. Oikawa gave him a judgmental look that Tendou decided to ignore. "What are you two gonna be for Halloween?""What?" 

Everyone was talking about Halloween now that that was the only time the whole school would be together. "What do you mean?""I heard some mudblo-I mean muggle born talking about it," Tendou shrugged, munching on the cereal and humming in approval when he actually enjoyed it. "Halloween this year since it's a big deal they're gonna celebrate and be in costumes or whatever. I'm not sure about the details, but you should ask. It sounds like a lot of people are freaking out about the separation."

Slytherins were mainly pure bloods, so it wasn't surprising that most of the Slytherin house was acting like everything was normal. It was like the announcement never even happened with the exception of a few half bloods here and there - oh, and Sugawara, but Oikawa and him didn't talk to each other that much, so he didn't care.

"Yeah, well, we shouldn't care that much," Oikawa shrugged, giving Tendou more cereal when he opened his hand for some. "By the way, Tendou-kun, you know you left your boxers at my house? Yeah, I didn't bring them here with me, but I'm just letting you know. You should get bigger ones though, there is no way your dick can stretch the front that much without you being loaded."

Sugawara was pacing back and forth while Daichi was trying to find ways to calm him down. They were together under the Gryffindor staircase, the most private place right now, yet Daichi was close enough to his house members so if anything happened to them he would be there.

But Sugawara looked like he needed a little more attention right now.

"I'm going away..." Sugawara whispered under his breath, holding his fists together and rubbing them, one hand over the other as he started to quicken his paces. "What am I gonna tell my parents? How am I gonna explain...Oh now, they're gonna think it's their fault," Sugawara groaned, his balled up fists rubbing his eyes as he tried to think of what to do.

"I mean, it can't be that bad, right? They're just gonna send me to a different school. And it's not like I'll be completely alone. I have Kuroo and Bokuto...then again, I don't know much about Gryffindors and I don't even know if we're gonna be together. Ah, maybe I should just beg the headmaster to let me stay. Daichi-kun, what do you think?" Sugawara looked over at Daichi who was awfully silent, dark in the corner, his arms crossed and sighing when Sugawara finally stopped pacing. "Daichi-kun?"

Daichi wasn't sure what to do either, if you asked him. Sugawara would be sent away and there was nothing he could do. It was fair - Sugawara was muggle born - and it was the new rule. Daichi was pure blood, he would be staying.

"I think," Daichi started saying slowly, then shrugged, making sure that he used his words very carefully. "I think we should just see how this goes. You know, it's not the end of the world. I mean, we have a long time to spend together after this school year and even after Hogwarts in general. One school year seems...small compared to that. Don't you think?"

Sugawara had to process what Daichi said for a moment, biting his lip as Daichi did make a good point.

A school year compared to the rest of their life. Being separated didn't sound that bad anymore even if it was a little sad.

"I mean," Sugawara mumbled, walking over to Daichi and sighing loud and dramatically. "I guess when you say it like that, I can wait 10 months for you..." Daichi chuckled a bit, reaching his arms out to hug Sugawara.   
One school year versus the rest of their lives. They could handle it.

"And on Halloween we can meet again. We can spend time together," Daichi whispered in Sugawara's ear making Sugawara giggle, nodding as he nuzzled his face in Daichi's neck.   
"Oh?""Yeah. We can be alone," Daichi continued on, Sugawara putting his hands on Daichi's thighs and squeezing them, groaning at how hard and firm they were. "Alone?""Alone," Daichi kissed Sugawara's jaw, nibbling on it teasingly. "Alone together. Just us. And maybe I'll even let you be in charge." Sugawara snorted, lifting his head up from Daichi's neck and raising his eyebrow.  
"Excuse me, Daichi-kun? You think you've been in charge this whole ti-""Get a fucking room!" Kuroo screamed at them, making both of them jump and turn to see Kuroo red in the face, but not from embarrassment. He looked angry.

"Everyone's pissing me off today! For fucks sake," Kuroo groaned, stomping up the stairs loudly. Daichi furrowed his eyebrows, watching Kuroo go up, hearing him slam the door of the Gryffindor tower. He just sighed, shaking his head as he let go of Sugawara, giving him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I should probably-""Yeah," Sugawara chuckled, combing Daichi's hair affectionately. "Go and check on him. Don't forget to change his diaper while you're at it, alright?"

Tendou wasn't a half blood.  
But Tendou was a half blood.  
But Tendou wasn't a half blood.  
But Tendou was a half blood.

"Waka-chan?" Tendou looked up at Ushijima, who was thinking about something as well. The two of them were outside of the Ravenclaw tower, after Tendou went to get his sweater since they originally planned to go on a walk, but now Ushijima was wavering.   
Was he thinking of Tendou as well?

"Waka-chan, what's on your mind?" Tendou asked sweetly, taking Ushijima's hand. Ushijima looked at Tendou, reaching up and stroking Tendou's hair softly. Ushijima was wearing the bracelet that Tendou had a matching one to. Every time Tendou saw it it made his heart do a little jump.

"I am thinking about," Ushijima said slowly, his voice a little too soft for Tendou. "About Tendou. If Tendou will be sent away or not."

So he was thinking about Tendou as well. Tendou just laughed softly, shaking his head as Ushijima's face went from a tensed, stressed out expression to a softer, more loving one as Tendou cupped his cheek.

"Hey," Tendou grinned up at him. "I'm not going anywhere, yeah? I'm a pure blood. I'm a wizard," Tendou's voice was a reassuring one. But in all honesty, Tendou wasn't sure either. His dad couldn't do magic like him, so what if Tendou ended up on that suspicious list and actually did end up being sent away? And if Tendou was sent away would he get caught as well? Would he be reported?  
Would he be sent to Azkaban?

"I wanna go on a walk," Tendou pulled Ushijima lightly, holding his hand tightly, not wanting to let go for the whole night. "It's a crescent moon tonight. I wanna enjoy it."

Full moons were beautiful, but seeing the moon incomplete had a different satisfying feeling to it that Tendou enjoyed very much. Ushijima said he liked seeing the half moons because it was always perfectly cut down in the middle.

"Halloween is the night of the lunar eclipse," Ushijima pointed out softly. "It would be a perfect time for Tendou to enjoy the night. Without any hardships or worry." 

Sometimes Tendou felt like he was spoiled with how much Ushijima thought of him. Ushijima always put him first and made sure Tendou was comfortable and safe and as relaxed as possible even if it costed Ushijima's own comfort.   
And sometimes, Tendou felt like maybe, just maybe, he should refuse such treatment, because sometimes Tendou didn't feel like he deserved it.

"Wakatoshi," Tendou called out softly, his eyes up at the moon, smiling a little as he thought about what his life would be like if the moon just didn't exist at all. "Promise me. On the night of the lunar eclipse," he looked over at Ushijima, squeezing his hand.

"You'll remind me at least once of what I actually am." Because maybe, just maybe, Tendou needed to be reminded sometimes too.

No one new what to expect. No one knew what was going to happen. No one even knew how to prepare for such a school year, the first one in history where blood divided the people at Hogwarts. 

And yet, everyone knew. Everyone knew that this wasn't just a mere precaution for safety or a fight for peace. This was a battle. A battle that they all had to fight in, a battle where no one was allowed to back out from. 

Blood has separated nations. Blood has separated lands. Blood has broken laws, slain the innocent and held the guilty high up on a pedestal they didn't deserve.

But has blood ever separated love? Maybe one day a clear answer would come, and everyone would understand a little more just exactly what blood was worth. 


	10. Interview I

"You two do know that this is an individual interview. Right?"

Kageyama was standing there awkwardly beside Hinata, and even though he told Hinata over and over again that if Hinata only wrote his own name down, then Kageyama showing up would be a bit unnecessary.  
But Hinata insisted, physically pushing Kageyama to go into the headmaster's office with him, telling him that Kageyama would be good there to 'intimidate' or something. As if Kageyama could intimidate the headmaster of the whole school.

"I would like to speak to you about the separation!" Hinata said confidently. Kageyama knew Hinata had practiced his points, making Kageyama listen to what he had to say, and even though Kageyama knew Hinata was freaking out about leaving, they also both knew their efforts would be in vain. A decision was made already - what were a bunch of teenage boys going to do?

"Did you have any concerns?" The headmaster asked, Hinata nodding vigorously as he held up his notebook to his face, reading them out loud. "I have several!" Hinata had 3 in total.

"My first one! I have a sister. If my mom has to pay more-""That is not necessary," the headmaster cut Hinata off before he could continue. "All funds that went to this school year will be shifted to your new school. Your parents won't need to pay another Sickle." Hinata opened his mouth then closed it before looking down at his notepad again.   
Just a temporary setback.

"O-Okay," he cleared his throat a bit. "My second concern. This school's new location will be-""In the muggle world. You'll be staying at a boarding school in Tokyo, much closer to your family, I hope you know. Everyone will be attending a regular residence high school and staying as normal, all while studying magic. The school will be charmed so that no muggles can find it, and you can continue the school year normally." Hinata coughed in his fist, realizing that the headmaster actually knew what he was doing. It was a bit annoying.

"Right..." Hinata tried not to let it take him down though, looking up at Kageyama but Kageyama was red, either from shame or embarrassment - perhaps both? He did say how much he didn't want to be here, and if Hinata didn't scream at him to come maybe he wouldn't be there beside him. But god, was Hinata scared for this interview. He didn't know how to argue with an adult and he wasn't even sure if he would've made it this far if the presence of Kageyama wasn't there. Kageyama calmed him down, even if he wasn't saying anything.

"Third!" Hinata continued, his determined face returning so that the headmaster knew just how serious he was. He needed to show that this wasn't something Hinata 'wanted', but needed. He needed to show that this separation was actually affecting the students greatly and shouldn't happen.

"Hogwarts is a family. Like you said, headmaster, we're a family away from family. We need to stay together to fight this war or else things will never get better. I believe that separating us will only worsen our chances. Muggle born and magic born need to work together to be stronger, not separate to be safe."

Hinata thought he had a pretty solid argument. Him and Kageyama worked on it together, trying to think of fancy words so that the headmaster took them a little more seriously, but they ended up playing it safe with simple sentences. They thought they had a good fighting chance at this and that maybe the headmaster would be hearing them out, at least a little bit. 

But headmaster Akaashi just sighed, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands on his lap. Kageyama clenched his jaw, knowing that adults do that thing, that gesture, when they're about to talk slowly like you're dumb and break down things so you'll 'understand better'. It was degrading, but he didn't say that out loud.

"Look, boys," headmaster started off, emphasizing the 'boys' in a way that didn't sit right with either of them. "You leave your real family all the time during the school year. Don't you?" He didn't give them time to answer. "Your real, blood related family. Hogwarts is a family as well, and this division of blood hurts me too, but this is what the Ministry and the Board have decided. This might not be the best answer, but this is the safest. And we're willing to put safety over satisfaction if it means we can see another year at Hogwarts with all the students."

This time, Kageyama opened his mouth. "But headmaster-""Kageyama-san, I'm sorry. But I can't help you boys if the only reason you don't want Hinata-kun gone is because you'll miss him." Kageyama hated how he blushed at that.

"It's not about that that," Kageyama pressed on, though everyone in the room knew it was kind of all about that. "Sending muggle born students away. Isn't this a little unfair? Doesn't it look wrong? In history we already know that muggles have burned witches, have staked wizards and magical creatures, yet every time the muggles remained prosperous because magic folk always run away." Headmaster Akaashi raised an eyebrow at Kageyama, but didn't say anything. "Isn't it time to take an offensive stand point?"

Headmaster Akaashi sighed again, leaning his elbows on the table, coming closer to both of them. Kageyama felt like they were going to get a lecture, but instead the headmaster just smiled at them.

"You two are right. It's not fair that the muggle born students are being sent away," he said in a more paced voice that made Kageyama's fist clench. "But if muggles were to find the new school where the muggle born students are going, then they will know how to act and what is the proper reaction to other muggle adults. Kageyama-san, would you know what to do if a muggle asks what you're learning this year at school?""Uh, well," Kageyama hesitated, "on Monday morning I have Charms and Poti-""Wrong." Headmaster Akaashi smiled at both of them. "A muggle born student would know how to answer properly."

Hinata closed his eyes and gulped, trying to think of something else, but at this point the separation was inevitable. Headmaster Akaashi made his decision, and him and Kageyama's arguments weren't strong enough.

"Listen," headmaster Akaashi continued on, seeing how the two of them were slowly giving up. The band-aid hurt less when you ripped it off fast rather than peeling it slowly. "I understand that Hinata-kun is gonna miss Hogwarts. I understand that this sudden switch is going to be awkward for all of us to adjust to. But in order to mature a little bit, sometimes things like this need to happen."

Hinata and Kageyama both nodded. There was nothing left to say anyway and no matter what they said, headmaster Akaashi had something to say back. It was useless.

"Don't worry," headmaster Akaashi smiled at them. "Hinata-kun will be allowed a phone call once a week. And you boys still have Halloween coming! I'm sure you'll be fine."

They didn't talk to each other as Hinata packed up even though there wasn't much to pack. Hinata didn't even have time to pack in the first place! He didn't have anything else to bring with him either since they didn't even have time to go to Hogsmeade or anything.

"This sucks," Kageyama sighed loudly, laying on his back on Hinata's back staring at the ceiling. "You're really leaving."

Hinata didn't like the way Kageyama said it. It sounded more true when it came out of his mouth and it definitely hit him much harder. Kageyama was acknowledging it more now, realizing there really wasn't much they could do anymore. 

Hinata was going away. All they could do was hope for the best.

"The phone call headmaster Akaashi was talking about. That's the 011-893--""Yeah, that one," Hinata nodded when Kageyama started reciting Hinata's phone number, just reminding Hinata even more just how different their worlds were.

Kageyama didn't know how phones worked, but he learned so he could call Hinata over the summer without using magic. He had to beg his dad to get him the shittiest phone there was, but it ended up getting Kageyama a perfectly working cellphone that was even a better model than Hinata's. So Kageyama knew what a phone call was - so he also knew that a phone call once a week was bullshit. 

"Do you think this new school will be big?" Kageyama asked, and Hinata really wished he would stop talking about it. Kageyama talking a lot was already weird and now that he's been asking all the questions Hinata felt like he needed to pull his game up and return as the talkative one in their relationship.  
Was this Kageyama's secret way of coping?

"I mean," Hinata shrugged, flopping down beside Kageyama on the bed and looking at him. "If it's like a regular muggle boarding school then it should be big, I guess." Kageyama nodded, turning his head to look at Hinata.

"What are muggle schools like?"

Hinata had to think about it. They weren't that different from Hogwarts, were they? But at the same time, they were.

"We don't sleep at school unless you're at a boarding school. Even then, it's more for the rich people or people who are studying in a special situation," Hinata explained, Kageyama nodding for him to continue. "And of course you don't learn magic. You learn other things, like math and science. There are some similar things though. Like, we still have history class and gym I guess is sort of like Flying. The cafeterias don't even compare to the dining hall here though.""What's a cafeteria?""It's where we eat."

Kageyama knew before Hogwarts Hinata went to a muggle elementary school. Even though it wasn't that long of a time, he could see Hinata's face lighting up when he talked about the muggle world.

"And then we go on field trips everywhere. One time we went to a strawberry picking garden and we got to make strawberry cake. Or we would go to an aquarium - that's a place with big fish tanks where you can see all sorts of water animals - and I had a partner I had to stick with the whole time but then we got lost! It was fun. Oh, and then there was a science center - it's kind of like a magic exhibit where they show different scientific discoveries. But honestly, I was just there for the cool gadgets. Especially the astronomy section. Of course, nothing really beats the Astronomy Tower here, but it was still fun at the time."

Kageyama never asked because he never thought about it before. But now he could see there was a slight change in the way Hinata talked, his knowledge in a whole other world Kageyama never knew.

"Do you ever miss being a muggle?"

The question struck Hinata, his eyes slightly widening. He laughed lightly, thinking Kageyama was joking, but when his face looked straight at Hinata he couldn't help but tense up, gulping as he turned his head to look up at the ceiling.   
Miss being a muggle? Hinata was a muggle most of his life so far, he couldn't really compare the two without being a bit biased.

"Being a wizard is cool," Hinata said softly, not looking at Kageyama even though he could feel his stare. "But do you miss being a muggle?" 

Hinata gulped, the silence between them thickening the longer Hinata left the question unanswered. Perhaps the silence was an answer enough though.

"Sometimes."

Natsu liked Kageyama. Not in a romantic way of course, ew no, but in a 'if my older brother were to run away with someone I'd rather it be you than anyone else'. And Kageyama always carried Natsu's bag if it looked too heavy, or her books if her arms were full. Kageyama was a good boyfriend to her brother, she had no complaints.

"I don't wanna leave," Natsu whined, stomping her foot at Hinata. Kageyama and Hinata busted their asses sneaking into the Hufflepuff tower, which wasn't too hard considering the way to get into the Hufflepuff tower was just hitting a bunch of barrels. The hard part was getting into the girls side of the dormitories, having to sneak in quietly and not get caught by the monitors.  
Natsu helped them, of course, distracting the Hufflepuff hall monitors while Kageyama and Hinata jumped into Natsu's room, the door left wide open for them.

"We did what we could.""You should've tried harder!" Natsu pouted, crossing her arms as she slumped down on her bed. Being excited for her 2nd year at Hogwarts, Natsu didn't hesitate unpacking everything once she arrived. But now that they were moving again she was instructed to put everything back in her trunk so that they could move it all once the time came for their transfer.

"Hey, I don't wanna go too!" Hinata tried not to yell, but Natsu has been going off about how Hinata should've fought harder for them to stay. Being sent away during her 2nd year sucked, especially when she met so many cool people during her 1st. Now they were all being taken away. Being away from real family was hard enough, she considered herself lucky that her and her brother at least went to the same school together.

"But nii-chan-""Seriously, stop," Hinata's voice was now stern, the first that Kageyama's heard it. It kind of reminded him of how his sister sometimes talked to him. It was a little freaky.

"This is happening, okay? Even if we leave here, at least we're leaving together. So hurry and pack, Kageyama can't do everything on his own."

Kageyama wasn't really doing much, he was just putting all of Natsu's books and notepads in a bag, organizing them and making sure there was enough room for all her clothes and other things she packed. He noticed there were quite a few trinkets, toys and such that looked like belonged in the muggle world. He was sure when they do room inspections, all those things would be confiscated.

"Fine," Natsu huffed, throwing in some sweaters lazily into her luggage. Hinata tsk'ed, taking the sweaters and folding them properly. "I said stop it.""Stop what? I'm not even doing anything!"

This might've been the first time Kageyama has seen Hinata like this. Usually Hinata was clingy and bright and friendly, not very responsible or reliable. He was clumsy and 95% of the time called out for Kageyama to do something for him.

But now that he watched them, Hinata really looked like an older sibling. A good one too, not just one that bullied his younger sibling constantly.

"The headmaster said we get one phone call a week. So you use yours on mom, okay?" Natsu nodded, folding her clothes like Hinata was doing, stuffing everything into one trunk. "What about nii-chan?""Don't worry about it." Natsu scoffed because she knew exactly where he was going to use that phone call.

"This isn't fair," Natsu huffed, dropping to the floor and crossing her legs, looking up at Kageyama instead since Hinata was all of a sudden being a responsible older brother and not being silly with her. "You're gonna stay here, aren't you Kageyama-san?"

Kageyama barely nodded, reaching his hand out to ruffle Natsu's short hair. "Yeah, I am," he confirmed, making Natsu groan louder. Kageyama didn't say anything as he turned his head and watched Hinata, his facce scrunched up as Hinata pushed all of Natsu's things in her luggage and closing it. Kageyama wasn't an older sibling, but he could understand that face when the younger sibling was throwing a tantrum in a difficult situation, not allowing any time to process.

Hinata was trying not to cry.

"I didn't know you were such a good older brother." Hinata hit Kageyama's side hard, making Kageyama wince. He probably deserved it.

Hinata and him were sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower, watching the sunset. It was a tradition that they watched the sunsets and the sunrises together, but this one seemed different.   
It was a lot darker and bluer than usual.

"Natsu's 2nd year turned out like this. If I complained with her she might actually say something to the headmaster," Hinata sighed, leaning his head on Kageyama's shoulder which Kageyama allowed. Lately in general Kageyama has been allowing more and more touching between the two, which Hinata was enjoying maybe a little too much too.

"Well, how do you feel about it?" Kageyama asked, wanting to hear Hinata's real views on it. He knew the both of them hated the idea, but now that there was nothing stopping this change from happening, what else were they supposed to do? 

"How do I feel?" Hinata hummed softly, thinking a bit about it since he hasn't even fully come to terms with leaving so suddenly. "It sucks for sure. And I don't wanna go. If there was any chance I could stay here then I wouldn't hesitate to take it." Kageyama nodded slowly, understanding that Hinata and him probably couldn't do much anymore except wait.

"Kageyama," Hinata called out softly, putting his hand on Kageyama's. "How come you don't kiss me?"

Kageyama's face turned red at the sudden question, backing away which made Hinata yelp, falling since he no longer had any support. "Hey!""What kind of question is that?" Kageyama scowled at him, pushing Hinata's face away when Hinata was trying to get closer again. "Don't ask stupid things like that, boke!" 

Hinata whined at the response, pushing Kageyama's chest hard as well, not liking such a reaction. It was a valid question, wasn't it? They were dating and so far they've only kissed once. When Hinata talked to Kenma about this stuff apparently Kenma and Kuroo kissed a lot that Kenma didn't even know how many times! Hinata was just a little bit jealous of that.

"It's not stupid," Hinata sulked, looking back at the sunset and pouting. "I just wanna kiss you more, is that so wrong?"

Kageyama glared at Hinata, gritting his teeth, but when he saw Hinata's actual dejected expression looking out at the sunset, the fading of colours of orange yellow turning to blues and grays, Kageyama felt his heart jump a little bit. 

Kageyama might never say it out loud, but Hinata was breathtaking.

"Close your eyes."

The demand made Hinata perk up, whipping his head to Kageyama. His face got excited all of a sudden, nodding enthusiastically as he squeezed his eyes closed, leaning in as he prepared for the kiss. And hopefully Kageyama would give Hinata a real one and not the stupid forehead one he did all the time.

Even though Kageyama was nervous, his palms sweating and his shoulders tensed as he leaned in as well, he found himself thinking how if this was anyone else he would've backed away immediately. He could only ever picture Hinata being the one this close to him, the only one he would be willing to kiss. Arguably it was because Hinata is his first love.  
But god, did he wish that Hinata would be his last.

"Kageya-"

Kageyama leaned in, pressing his lips against Hinata's, finally kissing him for the second time in their relationship, and for a much longer time than the first. It was innocent, not much movement at first, just the two of them sitting there with their lips together, waiting for something to happen. Hinata's watched movies and Kageyama has walked in to one too many couples making out at Hogwarts.

Something was supposed to happen right now. Something burning and passionate. Was this it?

Kageyama pulled away, looking down at Hinata, who had an unreadable shocked expression. Kageyama felt like there was something missing from that kiss. Like they had to move their mouths more, or maybe Kageyama should have held Hinata's cheek or something. He felt embarrassed, but he wanted to offer Hinata another try so maybe they could do it right this time.

"Hinata, maybe we should-""That was amazing!"

Hinata's eyes were wide, a bright smile matching as he squealed up at Kageyama, wrapping his arms around his neck. "Kageyama is such a good kisser! I wanna kiss more now! But don't worry, I won't get too greedy for now. Before I leave though, promise you'll kiss me!"

Kageyama thought he heard his heart pop open.

"They're gonna celebrate Halloween...muggle style? What exactly is 'muggle style' to them?"

Hinata and Kageyama were back in the common room when the sun set completely, walking in on Bokuto, Kuroo and Nishinoya gathered at one of the tables, pointing at the Halloween flyer Yachi was handing out earlier. There were different versions on it, but all had the same basic message of 'Spending Halloween Together!'.

"Costumes and shit," Kuroo pointed out on the flyer. Hinata and Kageyama joined them, sitting in two empty seats beside each other. "What're you guys talking about?""The Halloween party happening." Kuroo gave the two of them the flyers being handed out. "It's kind of...weird, don't you think?"

It was the same flyer from the other day, but there were a few changes in information. Like one, now it stated that the Whomping Willow was closed because of the Lunar Eclipse happening, and they bold the words too for emphasis. What the group was discussing about though was at the bottom someone added 'Celebrate the Muggle Way! In Respect to The Muggles Leaving Us This Year!'. It was a little weirdly phrased, the sentence making Hinata's face scrunch up.

"I mean, what are we? Going off to war?" Bokuto scoffed, crumpling up one of the flyers and throwing it to the nearest trashcan. When the paper missed Kuroo burst out laughing which earned a hit on the back of the head from Bokuto.

"I don't get what they mean by 'muggle'," Hinata said, looking up at the others, Nishinoya even looking at Hinata a bit concerned. "Why did they have to write it down?" 

Bokuto and Kuroo both shifted, Kageyama also was waiting for an answer. "Ah, well," Kuroo gave Bokuto a look and Bokuto gave a look back before they both looked at Hinata. "Hinata," Kuroo was the one to start off. "Do you know what 'prejudice' means?"

Hinata, Kageyama and Nishinoya all shook their heads. Bokuto shook his head a second later.

"Goodness," Kuroo sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Basically they think that there's a big difference between muggles and magics. That's all.""But there is a difference," Kageyama pointed out. "We can do magic. Muggles can't."

Kuroo nodded, opening his mouth and trying to choose his words carefully. "You're not wrong," Kuroo said slowly. "But also if you think about it, we're all just people, aren't we? Just different culture and abilities. So putting this 'Muggle Way'. Don't you find it a little offensive?"

Kageyama shook his head while Hinata looked unsure. When he read it it didn't sound offensive, but when Kuroo pointed it out it did make him feel a little weird. What exactly was the 'Muggle Way'?

"You guys had your interview today, right?" Nishinoya all of a sudden loudly snapped Hinata out of his thinking process, which wasn't going far anyway, banging his hand on the table to get Hinata's attention. "How did it go?"

Hinata and Kageyama explained what happened, how they got shot down right away, but it was probably because they didn't have smart people arguments like Kuroo might have, or even Akaashi if Akaashi went for an interview. The mention of his boyfriend made Bokuto both light up and shift timidly. There must have been a little tension between them now that Bokuto was being sent away.

"I have a wildcard," Nishinoya reassured himself and the rest of the table, rubbing his hands together. "If Asahi-san is leaving then I'm leaving too!"

No one knew what Nishinoya meant by that, and frankly, no one wanted to ask.

"When I leave, can I take one of your sweaters?"

Kageyama hit Hinata with his pillow hard making Hinata grunt and throw a pillow back at him. "I'm serious!""So am I."

Hinata wouldn't be leaving until the end of the week, so he was still sleeping in their dorm until then. Kageyama's and his bed were beside each other so they could whisper to each other without waking anyone else up. 

"Just a sweater. Even just a Gryffindor one will make me happy.""Boke," Kageyama whispered in a hiss. Their eyes adjusted to the dark so Hinata could see Kageyama's narrowed eyes at him. "You have the exact same sweater then."

Hinata groaned, shifting in his bed so he was right on the edge, a little bit closer to Kageyama now. "But if I have yours then it's bigger and cozier. Just give me one! You have so many." Kageyama rolled his eyes before closing them and turning in his bed, his back now to Hinata. They've been having a hard time to sleep tonight, waking each other up every few minutes when they had something to say. But now it was 1 in the morning and Kageyama wanted to get some sleep before his first lessons of school. 

"Kageyama, are you sleeping?"

Kageyama didn't respond, not wanting to give Hinata any satisfaction of his attention. When there was silence Kageyama thought he won, sighing softly as he relaxed in bed, feeling himself dozing off.

"Kageyama-""Shit!"

Kagayama's eyes snapped open, gasping when he saw Hinata's face inches away from his, his body quickly going on top of Kageyama, straddling Kageyama's thighs with his knees. Kageyama pushed him but Hinata was quick to flip off him so now he was laying down next to Kageyama instead of dropping on the ground like what would have happened if Kageyama successfully pushed him.

"Sh, they're sleeping," Hinata nodded his head to the others around them, noting that Lev was sleeping soundly beside Kageyama's bed on the other side that wasn't Hinata's. Kageyama glared at him, flicking Hinata's forehead hard that Hinata had to bite his hand to stop himself from screaming.

"Mean," Hinata pouted, biting Kageyama's wrist lightly, which for some reason made Kageyama feel more hot than bothered. Or maybe hot _and_ bothered. That sounded right.

"Get back to your own bed," Kageyama hissed, already taking Hinata by the collar, but Hinata protested again, putting his smaller hand on Kageyama's wrist to stop him. "Wait! You're being mean-""Get back to your bed before I throw you out the goddamn window." Their whispers were getting louder as they argued, not taking in that their rustling in bed also counted as noise which made them even louder.

"Hinata-boke, get your hands off my-""I'm your boyfriend. I can put my hands wherever I want.""That is _not_ how this works!" Hinata hit Kageyama on the side of the head, Kageyama hit his shin, Hinata bit his shoulder and Kageyama kicked his thigh.

"Quit it! If we keep this up then Daichi-san will-" Like perfect timing, the door of their dorm slammed opened. The two of them sat up from the bed, their eyes wide when it was actually Kuroo this time who was standing there, glaring at the both of them his eyes red and twitching. Hinata gulped while Kageyama surrendered.

Kuroo pulled them out of the room and Hinata got to choose what sweater of Kageyama's he was taking with him.

"Bokuto-san, where'd you get the Polaroid of you and Akaashi-san?"

Bokuto was helping Hinata with the paper work of transferring because apparently they needed to fill in something before they could go. It was just a questionnaire, not an exam or anything.

Still, Hinata should've known Bokuto knew as much kanji as he did.

"That Polaroid? Kuroo took it," Bokuto told him, knowing Hinata was talking about the one Bokuto put up on his side table every year, even though he should have been putting textbooks and stuff there. Bokuto decided that a photo of him and Akaashi needed it's own pedestal.

"Kuroo has a Polaroid?""Yeah, he says he wants to use it as much as possible," Bokuto shrugged, giving up filling the form and deciding he would ask Akaashi to help him with this later. "Why? You wanna get one?"

Hinata did want one. One of him and Kageyama together before he went away, not just because they would be separated for the school year, but also because they didn't even have one photo with each other yet. They should be capturing as many memories as they could together so that when they got older they could reflect back on times like this, good and bad.

"Now that I think about it though," Hinata also gave up trying to fill out the form, willing to wait for Kuroo to come and help him. "I think Kuroo has a Polaroid of everyone. Doesn't he?"

So when Kuroo came back to the common room that day, Hinata dragged the both of them outside, where the lighting was good and the scenery was aesthetically pleasing. Kageyama was scowling the whole time when he saw the camera, not wanting to take the photo but Hinata insisted on at least one for each of them. Begrudgingly, Kageyama stood beside Hinata in front of a bed of dandelions, Hinata holding his arm and smiling at the camera.

"Kageyama, please," Kuroo didn't take the picture yet. "Smile a bit." Kageyama didn't smile. "Fine, whatever," Kuroo shrugged, holding the camera up and getting the set up ready. Hinata smiled brightly while Kageyama looked dead straight at the camera, not moving a muscle or flinching, even when the bright flash hit his eyes. The picture slid out of the camera, Kuroo taking it and giving it to Hinata.

"This is yours!" Hinata exclaimed, giving the photo to Kageyama. "We need to take another one for me too!" Kuroo nodded, holding his camera up again and waiting for Kageyama to smile, but when he didn't he was ready to hit the button.

At the last minute, Hinata leaned up and kissed Kageyama on the cheek. Kageyama gasped, his eyes widening and his cheeks blushing when he felt Hinata's lips on his skin. The flash went off and Kuroo was laughing hard as the photo slid out. "Oh my god! That's gonna look great!"

Any amount of hitting was worth a photo of a flustered, pink Kageyama being kissed by Hinata sweetly on the cheek. Once the Polaroid developed, Hinata looked at it for hours, smiling so hard his cheeks would hurt, probably looking stupid for staring at a photo for so long. But he couldn't help it, Kageyama looked so cute, Hinata was kissing him - it was perfect.

He hoped it would get him through the school year this year. And when Hinata would leave at the end of the week, Kageyama would put up his photo on his side table. 


	11. Interview II

"I just don't understand," Yamaguchi chuckled nervously, but there was obviously nothing funny about this situation. "Why am I being sent away again?"

Headmaster Akaashi looked from Yamaguchi, then beside him, raising an eyebrow at Yamaguchi again. "Sorry, uhm," headmaster Akaashi shook his head again. "You do know this is an individual interview, right, Yamaguchi-san?"

Tsukishima was standing beside Yamaguchi, his arms crossed as he looked at the headmaster, keeping his body close to Yamaguchi even though Yamaguchi was sitting down.

Yamaguchi didn't sign up for an interview because he didn't think he was getting sent away. But then Yamaguchi got informed about his transfer and things got a little messy. Yamaguchi started asking questions in his head, justifying his right to stay at Hogwarts because his parents were both magic people, making Yamaguchi a pure blood. There was no reason for him to be sent away, Yamaguchi hasn't even gotten close to being suspended (unless you count last year, but no one talks about that). Why did Yamaguchi have to leave too?

"Yamaguchi-san, you were enrolled during your 2nd year at Hogwarts. Don't think we forgot about that."

Tsukishima's jaw clenched, holding in a cough because now he felt anything he did would look suspicious even though it was obvious this interview was about Yamaguchi. He always knew this was going to bite him back in the ass someday, even though it was all Tsukishima's dad fault and not his.

"At first we decided to dismiss the fact considering that you can actually do magic. However," headmaster Akaashi tilted his a bit to the side. Tsukishima was holding his breath. "No one is clear on how you even got the letter. We appreciate you as a student and we're glad that you did get one, but it's just that to be given an anonymous, official letter to Hogwarts, it went under suspicion," headmaster Akaashi shrugged, offering Yamauchi a small smile. "I'm sorry if this is a shock, but this is something we need to do. We'll be informing your parents and letting them know as well."

Yamaguchi was confused and scared, but most importantly, angry. He got the letter from Hogwarts, it was official and real and he was here now, wasn't he? And he could do magic! So what if he got it a little late? That didn't make his presence any less valid, did it?

"We can make a compromise though," headmaster Akaashi started saying, getting both Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to focus on him again. "If we're able to figure out what happened with your letter, whether it really was late or something of another, then we'll bring you right back to Hogwarts without question, whether it's tomorrow or in 7 months. How does that sound?"

Tsukishima was obviously conflicted with such a suggestion, finding himself in the middle of wanting Yamaguchi to stay but not wanting his dad to get caught. Yes, Yamaguchi was a wizard and should have gotten a letter, this was true. And technically speaking, if his dad never forged Yamaguchi's letter, then Yamaguchi would never have opened up his magical capabilities and Hogwarts would have one less an amazing wizard.  
But at the same time, forging a legal document to a very high institute of education? Not that great of a move.

"I just don't get it," Yamaguchi said softly. "I got a letter. I don't know how that would be so suspicious."

Tsukishima felt like shit as he watched Yamaguchi's clueless face getting more frustrated, but didn't lash out. Tsukishima could tell he was confused and didn't know what to do, and who could blame him? Maybe it was because Tsukishima knew the truth, but he couldn't find it in himself to protest strongly about the issue. All he did was look down at Yamaguchi.

"I'm sorry, Yamaguchi-san," headmaster Akaashi reached his hand out and patted Yamaguchi on the shoulder. "If there's anything I can do to help, I'll do anything in my power to do so."

Tsukishima wish he could say the same.

"I just don't get it," Yamaguchi said for maybe the nth time that day, frustratingly throwing his clothes back into his suitcase. He usually unpacked first thing after arriving at Hogwarts, wanting to claim the top shelf as quick as he could, but now his stupid roommates would have extra closet space that should've been Yamaguchi's.

Tsukishima was watching him, sitting on the ground in front of Yamaguchi, listening to him ranting. He hasn't said much ever since the interview, not wanting his voice to crack or anything to slip. Usually, Tsukishima was good at keeping his composure, but he's noticed nowadays it was difficult for him to do so with Yamaguchi. This time, Yamaguchi's been showing a newer expression Tsukishima hasn't seen before - irritated.

"I got a letter! Sure, it wasn't in my first year. And yeah, okay, I wasn't able to do magic before. But now I can! I get good grades! I pass! My wand works, I have a lot offer to this school. How did I get-" Yamaguchi let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his face. "How did I get sent away?"

Tsukishima's heart broke as he watched his boyfriend breaking down, not sure what he was supposed to do. If someone walked in on Tsukishima hugging him it might look suspicious, but he also couldn't just leave Yamaguchi like this either. He needed to be comforted, at least a little bit.

"Tell your parents to talk to the headmaster," Tsukishima suggested. "Your parents are in a high position. I'm sure he'll hear them out." Yamaguchi shook his head as he started pushing his luggage shut, the clothes overflowing since he just shoved them in instead of neatly folding them. "No," Yamaguchi sighed, sounding even more distressed. "My parents aren't like that. They'd tell me to trust the authorities here and make me go if the headmaster tells me to go. They'd tell me it's for the best."

Tsukishima couldn't lie, that was something his parents would say too. How could you argue against adults, right? It didn't quite sit right with anyone, but at the end of the day Yamaguchi and him were students while the headmaster and the Board were a bunch of middle aged, pure bloods, calling the shots.

"Sorry, Tsuki," Yamaguchi gave up shutting his luggage and flopped on the floor in front of Tsukishima. "I keep complaining. It's probably annoying."

'Don't apologize,' Tsukishima wanted to say. 'Scream if you want to. Do you want to cry? You can cry. I'll comfort you until you're better, and when you have no more tears left I'll make sure you never cry again. I'm the one who's sorry. You don't even know how sorry I am, I wish I could tell you in one breath but there are so many reasons I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me or else I don't know what I'd do.'

"It's fine," Tsukishima ended up saying, shaking his head. "There's nothing else we can do."

Silence hung between them as they were now thinking about what the rest of the school year would be like. Yamaguchi was wondering what being at a muggle school would be like, while Tsukishima was wondering if Yamaguchi could handle it.

"Tsuki, is it okay if I tell Asahi-san that we're dating?" Yamaguchi asked softly, the question making Tsukishima tense up. "It's just, Tsuki's birthday is coming up and I wanted to-""No." Tsukishima snapped instantly, even though he didn't mean to. It was just instinct.

"No. Don't tell _anyone_ we're dating."

The dropping in Yamaguchi's face made Tsukishima's heart clench in ways he didn't think were possible, the back of his head pounding, telling him that he shouldn't be saying things like that so easily.   
But if Tsukishima's dad found out - if word got out that his son was gay _and_ even had a boyfriend - Tsukishima wouldn't know what to do. What would happen to him? What would happen to Yamaguchi?

To this day Yamaguchi didn't know Tsukishima's dad's homophobic side, being a great leader and a powerful person, Yamaguchi looked up to Tsukishima's dad like he would his own parents. He didn't want to ruin that image for Yamaguchi, and he certainly didn't want Yamaguchi worrying about getting Tsukishima in trouble. It would just be heartbreak for both of them, if Tsukishima's assumptions were right and Yamaguchi would do anything to protect Tsukishima.

"Sorry, Tsuki," Yamaguchi laughed nervously, tilting his head up. Tsukishima bit his lip, but cleared his throat and stood up. He couldn't stay here much longer.

"Don't forget to pack your textbooks too," Tsukishima reminded Yamaguchi, "and ask someone how to do a 'phone call' if you only get one a week." Yamaguchi nodding as he watched Tsukishima leaving the dorm room, giving him a small wave.

Tsukishima knew something was wrong because Yamaguchi always begged to walk Tsukishima back to the Slytherin tower.

"Why do they need our weight?"  
"Maybe they're gonna give us a meal plan so that when we leave the place we're all sticks."

Yamaguchi and Asahi were together in the Hufflepuff common room, filling out the forms together that needed to be filled out before they left at the end of the week. Yamaguchi was still conflicted, stressed about why he was being sent away in the first place.   
Was it possible that he was 'too' wizard? Was that even a thing? How was a letter that Yamaguchi didn't have any control over the ticket to him being separated from Tsukishima for a whole year?

So Yamaguchi has done this before. During Tsukishima's 1st year of Hogwarts, Yamaguchi was left alone at home, going to a muggle school for a little bit. So he knew how to live among the muggles, he knew different things that existed for them, like science and that useless stuff. But now that he was an actual wizard and was getting sent away to be with muggle born students, it just didn't seem fair.

"You're a half blood, Asahi-san?" Yamaguchi looked over at Asahi's form, reading his information. "Wow, you're tall," Yamaguchi commented as he looked down, Asahi chuckling nervously and shrugging.

"You rarely wrote anything down," Asahi pointed out, looking at Yamaguchi's form. Yamaguchi sighed and nodded, looking at his own form again, the only thing filled out was his name. 

_'Reason For Leave : ________________________________'_ Yamaguchi wasn't sure what to write down. Then there were some basic information like 'Weight' and 'Height' and 'House' - Yamaguchi was unsure what this had to do with anything about leaving, but he assumed since they were leaving to a muggle school then they had to fill things out the muggle way too.

"It's just, I can't believe I'm going. You know?" Asahi didn't ask any questions as to why Yamaguchi was leaving with him, knowing full well Yamaguchi was a pure blood, but since he didn't want to pry either he didn't let his curiosity get the best of him.

"I'm sure it's not gonna be too bad," Asahi reassured him, offering a small smile for comfort, but Yamaguchi was still staring down at his unfilled form, sighing louder. "I guess..." Yamaguchi didn't think he needed comfort though. He needed closure.

"How did Nishinoya-san take it?" Yamaguchi asked, Asahi's nervous laugh pretty much answering the question. "Ah, well, Noya-kun is..." Asahi nodded his head awkwardly, scratching the back of his head then shrugging. "I'm not too sure what I should do to reassure him that I'll be okay. I think he just doesn't want to separate."

Yamaguchi could understand that feeling though. If he had as much courage as Nishinoya, then maybe he would be able to put up a fight like Nishinoya, or even like Hinata and Kageyama who he knew for sure were going to say something to the headmaster about this whole separation of blood thing.

"And you're okay with being separated?" Yamaguchi asked, Asahi a little shocked at the question and actually looking like he was thinking about it for the first time. Slowly, but firmly, Asahi shook his head.

"Of course not. I'm going to miss Noya-kun for sure. And I don't think he'll be able to write to me often. But," Asahi smiled again, an oddly genuine one that Yamaguchi couldn't understand how he was doing so easily. 

"If I plan to spend the rest of my life with Noya-kun, then 10 months should be a piece of cake!"

Aone was a half blood. Futakuchi was a pure blood.

They made it very known in the Hufflepuff common room, the whole house knew by the end of the night.

"Just tell them you won't go! It isn't fair at all, you know? Honestly, what's the point of having a scary ass face when you're not even going to use it!" Futakuchi was frustratedly trying to get Aone to get to talk to the headmaster at least once before leaving. "Seriously, do you actually want to go away? Are you just gonna leave without a fight?"

Yamaguchi could easily hear their arguing, and to be honest, he wasn't too sure what they were arguing about. It made sense that Aone was leaving, considering that all the muggle borns were leaving. And it made sense that Futakuchi was staying because all the pure blood were staying.

What still didn't make sense was why Yamaguchi was leaving.

"If I need to go, then I need to go," Aone said firmly, Futakuchi rolling his eyes and groaning. "So you're easily gonna leave me, huh?""I didn't say that."

They've been arguing for hours, Futakuchi telling Aone he needed to at least try to stay and justify himself by saying he lived in the wizarding world and knew nothing of muggle things (which wasn't a complete lie, but Aone knew more about muggle works than Futakuchi was letting him). Yamaguchi could tell Aone's calm demeanour was irritating to Futakuchi, acting like this transfer wasn't the biggest deal of the school year, maybe out of all 7 years at Hogwarts together. Yamaguchi could understand both Aone's and Futakuchi's sides though.

"C'mon, you gotta at least try, right? You can't just-just _go_!" Aone looked down at his lap then back up at Futakuchi, his forehead scrunched up. "But...I am going."

Futakuchi huffed, standing up and pushing his chair aggressively. "Fine then! Go! I won't write to you though! And-And if you try writing to me then I won't reply!" Futakuchi stormed out of the Hufflepuff common room, everyone's eyes following him as he left dramatically. When Yamaguchi looked over to Aone he could see his fellow Hufflepuff frowning much more than usual, clenching his fists on his lap.

Yamaguchi just had to go up to him and make sure he was alright.

"He's just being a drama queen," Yamaguchi reassured Aone, patting him on the back, but even Aone looked tired. Now that Yamaguchi was closer he could see in his hand that Aone was holding out the filled out form, answering all the questions already even though the transfer was happening at the end of the week.

"I don't want to upset him though," Aone grunted, looking up at Yamaguchi, like he was angry but by now Yamaguchi knew that was just his face. "It wasn't my intention to make him so angry."

Yamaguchi gulped, unable to respond because he didn't really know the feeling. Tsukishima didn't seem angry that Yamaguchi was leaving. If he thought about it, Tsukishima didn't even seem _surprised_. It's just Yamaguchi didn't think too hard about it.

"Well, we're going together, alright? Even if Futakuchi-kun is mad at you, I'll still be here," Yamaguchi smiled at him but all Aone did was nod. Now that Yamaguchi saw someone else's reaction to their boyfriend's leave, Yamaguchi couldn't help but wonder.

Was Tsukishima also upset that Yamaguchi was leaving him?

Yachi was a half blood as well, and frankly, she might've been the most calm about this transfer than anyone else.

"The Halloween party can't happen on its own!" She insisted. Yachi asked Yamaguchi to help her out a bit with the flyers, charming then so the fonts moved around, or the picture of the black cat could meow. Yachi was creative, coming up with ideas Yamaguchi never would have thought of. It was rather admirable, and Yamaguchi sort of wished he could have this creativity too.

"Who's the head of the party committee though?" Yamaguchi asked, knowing it wouldn't be Yachi since they were only in their 4th year. Still, Yachi seemed very enthusiastic about the whole thing.

"Kiyoko-san!" Yachi basically gushed out, holding one of the flyers to her chest. "She's taking charge, like a real leader! And seeing her work up close - I must have done something good in my past life to earn such an opportunity!"

Kiyoko was a Ravenclaw in her 6th year, Yamaguchi knew her as the former captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, but passed the title on to another 6th year when she was asked to become professor Ukai's assistant to mandate Quidditch games, which was a much cooler job that required much more responsibility. Yamaguchi could understand why Yachi worshipped her.

"What're they planning for the party?" Yamaguchi was actually quite interested in the plans, and sort of wished that he got involved too when Yachi asked him to join the party committee. He knew Halloween was a big deal for Hogwarts, every year something exciting happening (last year didn't count) and no one was ever 'sad' on Halloween. It was a time to celebrate magic and witches and wizards.

When Yamaguchi told Tsukishima about the party committee, Tsukishima said it must be lame and turned the idea down completely.

"Well, it's supposed to be a secret, but I guess Yama-kun can know a little bit," Yachi giggled, Yamaguchi smiling back at her. Yachi was nice. She wasn't Tsukishima though.

"So, you know how it's a lunar eclipse on Halloween this year?" Yamaguchi nodded. "We're planning to do a whole theme around that! So darkness and stuff, the ghosts are gonna have a lot of fun with that. And because of the separation of muggle born and pure blood, we're adding some muggle aspects to it! So a costume party, where we can dress up as anything and everything you want to be! It's gonna be a lot of fun." 

Yamaguchi nodded, guessing that was all Yachi could tell him since there still was a lot of information missing, but also Halloween was 2 months away. "Decor and stuff are planned out. Kiyoko-san is so good at organizing," Yachi said dreamily. Yamaguchi wasn't sure if this was just admiration anymore.

"You're gonna miss Kiyoko-san when you leave?""Of course!" Yachi exclaimed, almost like it was an insult to even ask in the first place. Yamaguchi raised his eyebrows as Yachi's closed, a blissful smile on her face as she leaned back in her chair.

"But Kiyoko-san said once we meet again she would make sure we spend extra time together. So even if it feels like forever, then I would be willing to if it made Kiyoko-san see me a little more."

So Yamaguchi connected the dots, figuring that Tsukishima must feel the same way. That this separation wasn't something that they should fear necessarily, but see as a growing part of their relationship. Being far apart from each other for so long, it didn't mean they would forget about each other. They would just learn what it'd be like without each other. This was a healthy step for them as a couple.

He just wished Tsukishima would say it with his own mouth so Yamaguchi didn't have to chant it to himself every night. 

Tsukishima sometimes wished the walls at Hogwarts were paper and not solid cement. 

He knew for a fact Sugawara brought in Daichi to his dorm and they were talking about the transfer. Sugawara being the only full muggle born Slytherin, of course there would be some extra information, maybe some exceptions. How many other Slytherins were going?

Tsukishima pressed his ear against the wall, trying to make out some of the words Sugawara was saying. They weren't in the room next to him, but rather outside in the hallway, so Tsukishima was able to shift from wall to wall, eventually making it to the door. He wanted to hear if there were any ways for Tsukishima could keep Yamaguchi here, but he didn't have high hopes.

"When's the interview again?" He heard Daichi asking, a waving of paper right after. "Not until Friday."

Tsukishima cursed, realizing they would have no useful information for him right now until later on, but he wouldn't even know if it would be that useful by then. Yamaguchi would've probably come to peace with the idea by then and leave Tsukishima with a sad heart, but a strong mind.

Tsukishima needed to find a way to make Yamaguchi stay, or something that would prove his innocence by the end of the week. It wasn't easy, of course. He was literally up agains this actual father.  
It wasn't like Tsukishima was going to win or anything. But it would be nice to think he tried.

"You think they'll let me visit you?" Tsukishima could hear Daichi asking Sugawara, running to press his ear against the door again. "Mmm," he heard Sugawara thinking. "The form says we'll be in an isolated boarding school. I guess that means not just anyone is allowed to visit. But I guess I can ask on Friday." Tsukishima squinted, trying to hear a little bit more.  
"Do you think on the weekends you'll be allowed to go out?" Daichi asked, a very good question in Tsukishima's opinion. "I mean, I hope so. I'll ask on Friday too. Oh wait, let me write this down."

Tsukishima could hear the footsteps walking away, sighing softly when he heard them officially leave. Of course, the two of them would find any way to communicate. They were dating after all.

And Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were dating too, weren't they? So this was important information to Tsukishima as well. He just wished he asked all these good questions when they had their chance at the interview.

"Shit," Tsukishima whispered to himself as he laid down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about what he was supposed to do now. Get Yamaguchi to stay, but how? This was all happening too fast, he didn't have time to think of a plan.

This wasn't even his fault. If his stupid dad didn't poke his nose into everything, maybe Tsukishima wouldn't be having this problem in the first place.

"Is it so hard to ask? He doesn't even want to ask! I mean, all he has to do is put his stupid name on that stupid paper and maybe get some fucking questions answered! Ugh, it's like he doesn't even _care_."

Tsukishima told himself to make friends ever since he saw Yamaguchi making friends. He should've thought twice though, because Slytherins were annoying and complained about pretty much everything. Especially when something wasn't going their way.

"Is it so hard?" Futakuchi has asked a variant of this question, maybe, 16 times? Tsukishima stopped counting after 10. "I know he follows the rules and stuff, and he's not aggressive enough to use his face to intimidate anyone intentionally, but it would be nice to know he at least tried. You get it, don't you?" Futakuchi looked up at Tsukishima then kissed his teeth, sighing. "Never mind. You have no reason to care about this shitty-ass transfer, I guess."

Tsukishima shouldn't. Because his boyfriend was a fucking pure blood and shouldn't have been leaving in the first place.

"For fucks sake, I wanna talk to him," Futakuchi groaned, slamming the table him and Tsukishima were sitting at. "But if I talk to him first then I lose. I'm not fucking doing that." 

Tsukishima wanted to tell him that it shouldn't have been a competition, and Futakuchi should just go talk to him. But what right did he have to give relationship advice? He couldn't even come out about his.

"You're lucky, Tsukishima," Futakuchi sighed, shaking his head. "You don't even have to think about this shit. Ugh, why did he have to be a half blood?!"

Tsukishima wished that were his concern. If Yamaguchi was a half blood, then the problem would be easier to handle. It would have made sense if Yamaguchi got sent away then, Futakuchi was just being dramatic and clingy. It would explain his problems with magic much better, his late letter to Hogwarts being justified and maybe even disregarded.

To Tsukishima, the problem wasn't Yamaguchi's blood. It was his gender.

"Futakuchi-san," Tsukishima called out, the first time he was initiating a topic of conversation, even Futakuchi was a little shocked. "I was just wondering," Tsukishima cleared his throat, feeling a little bit pathetic about asking, but he didn't know who else to go to. There weren't many people Tsukishima talked to, and Futakuchi might have been the least biased person to talk about this with.

"If Aone-san were to ever say he wanted to keep your relationship a secret, what would you-""I'd fight him."

Futakuchi didn't even stutter.

"That's bullshit," Futakuchi scoffed, making Tsukishima wince a bit at the confident answer. How was it so easy for Futakuchi? He probably had accepting parents that loved him even though their kid was an asshole.

"Keeping a relationship a secret? Not only is that cowardly, but stupid. What's even the point of dating someone if you're not gonna make it known? Might as well just stay friends then."

Tsukishima sighed, knowing that was the answer he needed, but he really didn't want to hear it.

Iwaizumi was the closest person Tsukishima had to an adult in the Slytherin house, all the other people older than him either caring too much about themselves, or not caring about anything at all.  
Iwaizumi was responsible, intelligent, held his head up high, and most importantly, kept his mouth shut.

"So you have a friend that's a boy," Iwaizumi said slowly, "and he's dating a boy...but your friend doesn't want to tell anyone and is making his boyfriend feel bad. But this friend's boyfriend is too nice to say anything so they keep it bottled up so that your friend doesn't get mad. Is this what you said?" 

Tsukishima nodded, feeling his cheeks heating up as it was repeated back to him. He felt so dumb, he could've at least made up names. But he was rolling with it now, not letting himself falter just because Iwaizumi totally knew Tsukishima was talking about himself.

"And why would your friend get mad at his boyfriend if he wants to tell people about their relationship?""Because," Tsukishima firmed his voice up. "My friend's dad is homophobic. Severely homophobic. If the word 'gay' came up in front of him he'd correct it to 'deviation'."

Iwaizumi nodded, feeling the heat of Tsukishima's frustration radiating the library as the two of them discussed this odd topic. He had to admit, when Tsukishima suddenly called him out, Iwaizumi thought Tsukishima was dying or something. But now that the problem was explained, he sort of understood why Tsukishima decided to call him out when Oikawa was busy with something else, and the library was technically closed since it was after curfew. The only reason they got in was because Tsukishima decided to use a bit of magic on the librarian to make her sleep for a bit.

"Okay..." Iwaizumi put a hand to his mouth and exhaled. "Does your friend's boyfriend know this? That his dad is homophobic?" Tsukishima shook his head, Iwaizumi nodding in understanding.

"Well, if you're asking for my advice," Tsukishima nodded in confirmation that he needed someone older to tell him what he should do. It was giving him a headache thinking about what his next move should be.

"Then I think your friend needs to tell his boyfriend what's going on. Because, you know, it's important?"

Tsukishima knew that already! He knew he had to say something, but Iwaizumi was saying it like it was so easy. Before Tsukishima could protest though, Iwaizumi was continuing on.

"I didn't tell Oikawa that I liked him. For a very, very long time, I didn't tell him." Tsukishima didn't say anything, relaxing his shoulders that he didn't even know were tensed up. "And the result wasn't pretty. Oikawa kept trying to get my attention. I couldn't reject him properly, but I couldn't accept those feelings easily either. It ended up being bad for the both of us, and now Oikawa has a hard time now too even though he doesn't tell me. I'm working on that though."

Tsukishima didn't ask for details because he didn't feel like it was his place. Iwaizumi continued on though. "What I'm saying is that if your friend doesn't communicate with your boyfriend then it won't end well for either of you. It's gonna be a huge mess, and before they know it, they'll be in too deep and it won't be easy to clean up."

Tsukishima gulped, seeing how Iwaizumi's face got serious, furrowing his eyebrows at Tsukishima. "So take my word for it. If they're not going to tell each other everything then just break up. It's not a good relationship to even begin with."

He let the words sink in, Iwaizumi leaning back in his chair to let Tsukishima come to a conclusion. Tsukishima was thinking hard, not wanting to admit that as the truth, but no matter how he looked at it, it was the right decision.

But he didn't want to end things with Yamaguchi either.

"As for homophobic parents, I'm not sure how to help with that," Iwaizumi gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged. "I guess...tell your dad to go fuck himself?"

Tsukishima didn't even bother correcting Iwaizumi.

Kuroo was the one who called both Yamaguchi and Tsukishima out into the field. At first, both of them were confused, looking up at Kuroo curiously, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed Kuroo just wanted a bit of entertainment with some of his closest 4th years.

Kuroo knew Yamaguchi through teaching him how to be a good Seeker at Quidditch. He knew Tsukishima through bothering the shit out of him from his 2nd year until now.

"Since I'm leaving, I wanted a proper Polaroid with Tsuki-kun."

Tsukishima groaned, turning around to go back into the school, but Kuroo stopped him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "No, no, no. Come on, I need to get a Polaroid of everyone I'm leaving this year. You know, to remember the good times. What if I forget your face?"

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, yanking his arm away from Kuroo, but Kuroo had a strong grip. Yamaguchi shifted uncomfortably at the side, scratching the back of his head.

"Uh, sorry," he looked over at Kuroo. "But why am I here?""Well, I'm leaving you too," Kuroo responded, making Tsukishima and Yamaguchi both freeze. "I'm saving some film by doing two at a time, aren't I?"

Right. No one knew Yamaguchi was leaving as well, not until Yamaguchi actually left and they noticed the pure blood was on the bus out of Hogwarts. Kuroo must've sensed the awkward tension, widening his eyes as he looked between them.

"Whi-Which one-""Me," Yamaguchi rose his hand shyly. "I'm leaving with you, I guess."

Kuroo's jaw dropped, obviously shocked by the news, but anyone would have been, considering that Yamaguchi was as pure as it got. Yamaguchi's parents mainly, they were the real reason Kuroo's jaw dropped though. They were powerful wizards, they worked in a high position at the Ministry of Magic, Yamaguchi was just too humble to talk about them.

"Oh, well," Kuroo coughed, wanting to ask so badly, but held his tongue for now. "Uh, then I guess I can have a picture with Tsuki-kun alone. Can you-" Kuroo handed Yamaguchi the camera, which Yamaguchi took and nodded, letting Kuroo and Tsukishima stand beside each other and pose for the photo. Tsukishima sighed, but begrudgingly stood next to Kuroo, looking into the camera, but not smiling, not even a little bit.

"I know you're not smiling," Kuroo managed to murmur between his teeth, hitting Tsukishima on his side, but Tsukishima didn't budge. Yamaguchi ended up taking the photo, Kuroo looking more angry than happy to be taking a photo with Tsukishima.

"What's up with you 4th years. First Kageyama and now you," Kuroo huffed, staring at the photo of an unimpressed Tsukishima after the Polaroid developed. Tsukishima scowled, not appreciating him being compared to Kageyama.

"Eh, whatever. It'll do," Kuroo sighed, then looked between the two of them. "Did you guys want a Polaroid too? I have extra film now."

Yamaguchi's eyes went wide, looking up at Tsukishima, almost like he was pleading, but wanted Tsukishima's approval first. Of course, Tsukishima looked uninterested, trying not to look down at Yamaguchi, but he could feel the begging from his heart, and if he were to be honest, then Tsukishima actually did want a photo with Yamaguchi as well.  
Now that he thought about it, Tsukishima didn't have any photos with Yamaguchi at all.

"Just one."

It was a simple pose. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were standing next to each other, Yamaguchi smiling widely at the camera, doing a peace sign, while Tsukishima was tense beside him, looking at the camera with a straight face. But when Kuroo looked at it, Tsukishima looked more disgusted in the photo with Kuroo somehow.

"Just one?" Kuroo asked, giving the photo to Yamaguchi, assuming it was Yamaguchi who wanted it over Tsukishima who didn't even look like he wanted to take the picture in the first place. Yamaguchi took it excitedly, showing it to Tsukishima. "Look! It came out pretty, didn't it?" Tsukishima stared down at it with an expression both Kuroo and Yamaguchi couldn't understand.

Suddenly, Tsukishima took the Polaroid, snatching it out of Yamaguchi's hand, making Yamaguchi gasp. But that's not what shocked him the most.

Tsukishima ripped the Polaroid. Right down the middle, between him and Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi gasped louder and even Kuroo exclaimed a 'hey' when he saw Tsukishima literally tearing the photo up, as if film wasn't already expensive enough.

"What do you think you're-" Before Kuroo could finish, Tsukishima was handing Yamaguchi the half of the Polaroid with him. Tsukishima kept the half with Yamaguchi.

"There," Tsukishima huffed, letting Yamaguchi hold the photo of Tsukishima, the tear in the middle a little too perfect that it made Kuroo wonder if Tsukishima was actually human. The half with Yamaguchi was in Tsukishima's hand, Tsukishima carefully holding it so it didn't crumple.

"If we ask for another one Kuroo won't have enough for everyone else."

Yamaguchi wasn't sure what to say, but when he looked down at the Polaroid of Tsukishima, a little bit tense, but there was no better picture that captured him, Yamaguchi couldn't help but smile and nod, beaming up at Tsukishima in a way that made Tsukishima's heart skip a beat - if Yamaguchi knew what went on in Tsukishima's head whenever Yamaguchi made his heart race, maybe Yamaguchi wouldn't say 'sorry, Tsuki' all the time.

"I'll cherish it!"

Kuroo should've been the first one to realize that there was something more between those two, but he was more distressed about the fact that Tsukishima literally wasted a perfectly good Polaroid.


	12. Interview III

"Tetsurou, don't waste my time," headmaster Akaashi groaned, watching as Kuroo held in an eye roll. Kuroo awkwardly shifted from foot to foot, biting his lip as headmaster Akaashi rubbed his head.

"And how many times do I have to say this? These are solo interviews!"

Actually, Kuroo didn't sign himself up for this. He has accepted his leave right when headmaster Akaashi announced it, already knowing there was no doubt his half blood self wouldn't be excused just because he was on house-visiting terms with the headmaster.

Kenma on the other hand, he was still angry at Kuroo.

"What was even your question?" Headmaster Akaashi sighed, looking up at Kuroo, who was standing and letting Kenma sit despite this being Kuroo's interview. "I still don't understand why you signed up for this."

Kuroo didn't know why either. Kenma signed him up for this, didn't tell him what he should be asking and expected Kuroo to maybe fight for his right to stay? But Kuroo was sure that there were many students who were asking for the same thing, so this was all in vain, and frankly, Kuroo thought this wasn't that big of a deal. 10 months? Not a big deal!

Kenma did not agree, however, and wanted to do everything in their power to make Kuroo (and hopefully Shouyou) stay. Because who would Kenma have when they left? Akaashi? But Akaashi, though he was quiet, was actually quite nice to talk to and had many friends. Kenma on the other hand, found socializing hard and let Kuroo handle that side of life of, interacting with a bunch of people and making connections.

And Kenma guessed, he might miss Kuroo a little bit.

"Uh," Kuroo wasn't planning on throwing Kenma under the bus. "I mean, well," he looked down at Kenma, but Kenma was staring straight down at his lap, not saying a word. 

"Can I stay?"

The headmaster groaned louder, probably one stupid question away from a hard face palm. This might've been the 80th kid to ask this week, and Kuroo wasn't helping the irritation and stress that was building. It's not that he didn't want to help these kids, this decision of separation was made by a whole group and even though his opinion was heard, it didn't win the majority. So seeing these kids wanting to stay so badly, of course it would break his heart.

Headmaster Akaashi definitely was not ready for the interview with his son's boyfriend either.

"Tetsurou-kun," headmaster Akaashi exhaled in frustration making Kuroo smile innocently, chuckling nervously. It would've been nice if Kenma at least gave him a little bit of a heads up about this interview.

"Get out of my office."

Even after that pointless interview, signing Kuroo up for it but not talking at all in his behalf, Kenma wasn't talking to Kuroo, not even looking at him.

"You can't ignore me forever!" Kuroo called out to Kenma when Kenma ran up the Ravenclaw stairs. Kuroo groaned when Kenma slammed the door shut, trying his best not to scream, but it was getting harder every hour Kenma refused to talk to him.

This wasn't his fault! Kuroo didn't ask to get sent away, he didn't even know about this until it was announced on the first day of school, which honestly was a little unfair, but Kuroo wasn't going to complain about it. Kenma was being a child about this, not seeing that this was probably the necessary precaution the board and the ministry needed to take in order to make things as safe as possible for the students.

Why was Kenma taking this hit so hard?

"I don't even know what he's so mad about," Kuroo hit his head on the table as he was telling Daichi his problem. It's been 3 days and Kenma still hasn't looked him in the eyes properly. It was starting to get to Kuroo in an unhealthy way, not used to Kenma being _this_ unresponsive.

"What have you done so far?" Daichi asked, genuinely trying to help Kuroo out of course. "Like, how have you talked to him? Have you sat him down and stuff? Given him a hot chocolate or something?"

Kuroo opened his mouth and then closed it before shaking his head. "I mean, I've...screamed at him." Daichi snorted, not being able to contain his laugh which Kuroo responded with by hitting him on the side. It wasn't funny to Kuroo.

"Then try being nice," Daichi suggested sarcastically, Kuroo not liking his tone, but didn't hit him again. "Talk to him in Kenma's way, not in Kuroo's. He probably doesn't like the Kuroo way that much anyway."

Kuroo sighed, rubbing the palms of his hands on his thighs and shaking his head. "But I didn't even do anything! The transfer is happening, there's nothing we can do to stop it. I don't see this as my fault."

Daichi nodded his head slowly, taking this part into consideration. He knew both Kuroo and Kenma well, so giving advice wasn't too hard, but it seemed that Kuroo was asking for more than advice - he was asking for instructions.

"Well," Daichi started off slowly, looking up at Kuroo. "Does it matter who's fault it it?"

Maybe a year ago, Kuroo would've said 'fuck yeah it does'. But after being in a relationship for almost a year, especially one with Kenma, he realized that it never mattered who's fault it was - it would always be Kuroo's.

"No," Kuroo groaned, hitting his head on the table again then looked up at Daichi. "Yeah. I'll go apologize."

But not just any apology. Kuroo had to make this a good apology, one that Kenma just had to accept or else he would be a crazy person. Even though Kuroo didn't apologize often, that didn't mean he wasn't good at it.  
He just liked picking fights all the time and apologizing would take out that fun.

"This one, please," Kuroo pointed in one of the boxes, looking up at the shop clerk. That morning, Kuroo woke up bright and early, going out to Hogsmeade and taking a nice little trip to the Magical Menagerie. Was he allowed to be here? Who cared, he was getting transferred anyway.

"There you are, dear," the shop clerk smiled at him after Kuroo paid for his purchase, leaving the Magical Menagerie with a bit of a heavy box, but a proud smile, knowing that Kenma just _had_ to love this gift of his.

"What do you mean you don't want it?" Kuroo hissed, pushing the box on the ground closer to Kenma. "It's a black cat! You love these things, don't you?" Kenma didn't look at Kuroo, staring down at the box, the black cat mewling up at him from inside, Kuroo could just tell that Kenma wanted to coax it.

"It looks too much like you," Kenma whispered, but Kuroo could tell he was holding a lot back to not crouch down pet the little kitten that was doing it's best to try and climb out of his box. Kuroo gritted his teeth, wondering if Kenma was always this stubborn or if this was a new side of Kenma he didn't think existed.

"But-But when I leave, you'll have ca-""I'm going." Kenma turned, clenching his small fists, if the cat wasn't there and didn't needed attention Kuroo would've grabbed him. "Give it to someone else."

Who the fuck was he supposed to give this cat to if not Kenma? Kuroo didn't need him. He sighed loudly and leaned down at to the box, the confused little kitten tilting his head up at Kuroo, purring when Kuroo picked it up and scratched his head. Kenma was long gone by the time the cat was out of his box.

"Now what am I supposed to do with you, hm? You costed me my whole month's allowance," Kuroo cooed in a sarcastically sweet way, giving the cat a big kiss on the forehead.   
Maybe he should've named it. That would've gotten Kenma attached.

"Guess plan A didn't work that well," Bokuto laughed as Kuroo entered the Gryffindor common room with a small cat in his hands and a defeated look on his face. Bokuto couldn't stop laughing, Hinata was mesmerized and Daichi looked so disappointed that Kuroo felt ashamed himself.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Kuroo whined, holding the cat up, letting Kageyama hold him but the cat just ended up attacking him. Hinata had to take him to the infirmary. 

"You can make a friend," Bokuto teased, earning him a hard kick to the shin from Kuroo. "I'm serious! Who the hell wants to take care of a cat I bought out of whim? I just chose him! I don't even know what kind of cat he is," Kuroo furrowed his eyebrows, staring at the cat, looking him in the eyes. "What kind of cat are you?"

The next day 4th year Lev would ask if he could have the cat, Kuroo would give it to him, and Kenma would spend the rest of their years at Hogwarts scowling at him once he found out.

Kuroo was a fighter though. He spent 2 years chasing after Kenma, chasing him for a few days was gonna be easy if it was just to make Kenma talk to him. And he already sort of got his attention, Kenma was willing to come meet Kuroo if Kuroo made it seem like a life or death situation - which wasn't that bad, Kuroo felt a little grateful for that attention.

Even though it was supposed to be for his birthday, Kuroo decided that this was a better time to give Kenma a few little gifts. That cat didn't work, but cats needed maintenance and attention. Kuroo basically bought him a baby anyway, and Kenma didn't need a baby.  
So he pretended Kenma never got a cat and moved on to the next best thing.

"Why did you call me here?" Kenma crossed his arms, the two of them at the back of the Ravenclaw tower, back when Kuroo would transform into Tetsurou and Kenma would pour his heart out to the black cat until the moon came out. Kuroo couldn't lie, he sort of missed those days.

"I wanted to talk to you, of course," Kuroo grinned, glad that Kenma even came out to see him. "But first," Kuroo gave him a small box, wrapped up kind of nicely, but got crushed in his luggage. Hopefully the contents inside were okay though, especially since Kuroo had to work 2 part-time jobs to afford it.

"Here. A present."

Kenma bit the inside of his cheek, hesitating before he took the present and ripped it open, not caring about if he damaged the contents inside. Kuroo winced every time the box ripped or there was a weird cracking sound that came from it, but he held a strong image, watching and waiting for Kenma's reaction. 

"A game?" 

Kuroo nodded enthusiastically, letting Kenma open the box too, the newest gameboy of 1997 that came out at the beginning of the summer now in Kenma's hand, even in a bright blue to match Kenma's Ravenclaw theme.

"Yeah! You liked the other game a lot, so I thought I should update you," Kuroo chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "You like it? You can throw the other one away now, you know? It probably got boring when you finished the game, right?"

Kenma shifted from foot to foot, looking down at the new gameboy, noticing slight changes to it, but it looked pretty much the same, even the theme of colour blue that Kuroo assumed Kenma liked so much. But if this was the updated version, that meant it was expensive, right?

"Why did you buy it?" Kenma asked softly, playing with the buttons of it, but not turning it on. "You shouldn't have." 

Kuroo chuckled, a little too cockily for Kenma's liking, waving his hand at Kenma. "Ah, it's not a big deal. I just wanted my boyfriend to remember me by-""No," Kenma cut him off, narrowing his eyes at Kuroo. "You really shouldn't have."

Kenma put the game in his pocket, but left the mess of the box and the wrapping paper on the ground. "You only think about yourself. Don't you?" 

Kuroo's mouth opened, wanting to gasp but as Kenma turned and started walking away again he wasn't even able to call out to him. Was Kenma being serious? This time, Kuroo actually wasn't sure what he did to get this sort of treatment, Kenma didn't even hear what he had to say! Quickly, he picked up the ripped up parts of the box and the wrapping paper, trying to chase after Kenma, but Kenma was long gone, up the stairs of the Ravenclaw tower and inside.   
What did Kuroo do now?

"Plan B didn't-""Fuck you, Bokuto."

Maybe it was materialistic things that Kenma hated. Even though he technically took the game, Kuroo didn't know if Kenma was actually using it. So he decided to try a different approach, hopefully one Kenma would appreciate a little more.

"Oh-" Kenma flinched when he saw Kuroo waiting for him outside of the Ravenclaw tower, sitting on the steps. Kenma looked up, pretending like he didn't see Kuroo and tried walking down, but Kuroo grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"What do you want, Kuro-" Suddenly, Kuroo was kissing the back of Kenma's neck. He's done this before, Kenma always loved it, but this time it was different. Kuroo was opening his mouth, letting his tongue drag along the side of Kenma's neck, going down to his shoulder then blowing on his ear.

"I want," Kuroo whispered huskily, wrapping his arms around Kenma's waist. "You."

Kenma has been asking for sex since they started dating, and even though Kuroo has been a big ball of awkward and nervous, he still wanted to do it too. So no one was forcing themselves, no one was going too fast. They just haven't found a good time.

"You're pissing me off," Kenma whispered, but didn't push Kuroo away, which Kuroo took as a good sign to continue. "Oh?" Kuroo hummed, moving his hands from Kenma's waist to his thigh.

"Should I take responsibility for my actions then?"

There was a slight hesitance in Kenma that made Kuroo stop, not wanting to push him too much if he suddenly changed his mind. Spur of the moment was sexy, but so was consent and Kuroo didn't want their first time to be forced. So he waited for Kenma to make up his mind before he took anything further.

"Annoying," Kenma muttered before turning around and wrapping his arms around Kuroo's neck, pulling him in for a kiss, one that took Kuroo by surprise but he dove into right when he realized what was happening. He pulled Kenma up as the kiss deepened, Kenma opening his mouth and forcing Kuroo to open his too as he ran his hands in Kuroo's hair, tugging softly in a way that made Kuroo moan in his mouth.

It was a new feeling, but Kuroo loved every second.

"You sure no one's gonna come-""Just shut up and trust me."

The dorms at Hogwarts held 5 students. 5 beds, 5 drawers. 5. That meant there was 4 potential people that could've walked in on them, Kuroo on his knees on the side of the bed between Kenma's legs, pulling his pants down and kissing his thighs, slowly pulling down his briefs as well. Kenma was unsurprisingly, yet surprisingly shameless, lifting his hips off the bed so Kuroo could take his briefs off.

"Akaashi is with Bokuto," Kenma started saying, putting one hand in Kuroo's hair. "Ennoshita is studying in the library." Kuroo looked up at Kenma, kissing his inner thigh, sending a weird shiver Kenma has never felt before down his spine.

"And-And-""Shh," Kuroo cooed at Kenma, using one hand to spread Kenma's legs more, his other hand on Kenma's hip to steady him. "I get it."

Blowjobs were great. So good, or maybe Kuroo was just weirdly good at them, but Kenma has never felt anything like it before. He didn't hold back noises, not caring too much about who could hear.

No. He wanted people to hear.

"Kuroo. Kuroo, Kuroo-" Kenma gasped as Kuroo sucked him harder, deepthroating Kenma easily. Kuroo was good at giving different parts of his body attention, one of his hands going up Kenma's shirt and rubbing his chest, going over to one nipple and pinching, making Kenma whimper and fall on the bed, now laying on his back. He wanted to look at Kuroo, but right now he couldn't even control himself.

"Fuck-Yes," Kenma moaned, fisting his hand in Kuroo's hair and wrapping his legs around Kuroo's head as Kuroo pulled him out of his mouth, using his tongue to lick down the shaft, going down to Kenma's balls and sucking on one of them, focusing on one at a time as he started stroking Kenma's cock. Kenma whimpered, his back arching as he felt his body stagger, tightening his legs around Kuroo's head.

"Kuroo, I-I'm gonna-Shit, something's-""Yeah," Kuroo whispered hotly no the head of Kenma's cock, taking him in his mouth for a brief moment, swirling his tongue around and licking in the slit, drinking up the bit of pre-cum Kenma produced.

"Cum."

With a loud moan, Kenma's back arched even higher, cumming on Kuroo's face, letting himself let loose as he felt electricity run down his spine, his whole body stiffening and feeling a wash of relief all over.

"Shit." When Kenma looked down, Kuroo's face was covered in his cum, wiping some off with the back of his hand. Weirdly enough, it kind of looked hot to Kenma. But he didn't want to say it in case Kuroo was grossed out by that.

"How was that?" Kuroo asked, looking up at Kenma, but Kenma answered by leaning down, kissing Kuroo hard, not caring if he was tasting his own cum. He just shoved his tongue down Kuroo's throat, making Kuroo swallow it all.

"Is that all we're doing?" Kenma asked against his lips, making Kuroo chuckle a bit. He shook his head, going onto the bed, forcing Kenma down and crawling on top of him.   
If Akaashi walked in with Bokuto, Kuroo wouldn't know how to act.

"Consider this a farewell gift."

That comment made Kenma stop. There was 5 seconds of heavy tension, Kenma having to pull away from Kuroo and glaring up at Kuroo. Kuroo stopped too when he noticed Kenma was out of it, assuming at first that Kenma changed his mind.

Without warning, Kenma hit Kuroo hard on the top of his head.

"Get. Out." Kenma growled, whipping Kuroo's sweater at him as he pushed him out of his dorm, angrily slamming the dorm in his face. The Ravenclaws in the hallways stared at Kuroo, watching him hurriedly put his sweater back on and clearing his throat, standing up and trying to leave the Ravenclaw tower with the little dignity he still had.

What did Kuroo do now?

Kuroo was stupid. Stupid, dumb, annoying and clingy, Kenma was going insane. After 2 years of semi-ignoring Kuroo, Kenma has lived a good life with just being by himself and keeping to himself.

So why was he so affected by just the _thought_ of Kuroo leaving?

Kenma cared about how people looked at him. Even though he didn't like talking to people, didn't like to socialize, never initiated conversations, was blunt and cold to those who did talk to him, Kenma cared about what people thought about him.

But Kuroo. He was different.

"Professor Takeda?" Kenma knocked on the door of the Potions classroom. Professor Takeda looked up, smiling at Kenma and nodding, waving his hand to Kenma to let him know he could come in. "Hello, Kozume-kun! Come in, come in."

Kenma walked in, holding the latest Potions textbook for the 5th year, a pile of notes in his hands as well. "Classes don't start until tomorrow," Takeda pointed out. "How can I help you?"

Kenma sat down, opening the textbook and shaking his head. "I just wanted to start early," he said quietly. "Is it okay if I just stay here for now?"

Potions class was Kenma's favourite class. For some reason, Kenma felt so relaxed around the dark room, not too big, not too small, the desks at a good distance from each other so he could listen to other people's conversation yet focus on his own work.   
And he liked making potions. Puzzling the ingredients together, it was interesting. He remembered Kuroo used potions as a comparison to chemistry, and at the time Kenma got excited because it was something similar that him and Kuroo were interested in.

Now, he was realizing just how different they just might be.

"Professor Takeda," Kenma called out softly. "Professor Ukai is a muggle born. Isn't he?" Takeda sighed, nodding slowly, giving Kenma a small smile. "He is," Takeda confirmed as he looked at Kenma. "But it's not that bad. It's not like we'll die being apart from each other so long."

Of course, Takeda and Ukai were adults so they could handle things like these much better than the immature Kenma who couldn't stop worrying about Kuroo leaving his side.

What was pissing him off the most though, was that Kenma was an independent person who didn't need to have someone by his side to comfort him all the time, didn't need someone to talk for him, didn't need someone to give him attention.

At least, he never needed someone like that before.

"Kozume-kun?" Takeda called out, getting Kenma's attention. Kenma looked up at him, blinking slowly as Takeda observed his face, then giggled a bit, watching as Kenma got slightly confused at the longed silence between them.

"You know, I'll still miss him though. It's okay to miss someone."

Kenma gulped, looking back down at his textbook, pretending to read it, but the words were getting jumbled. Has Kenma started making his expressions obvious now too?  
If so, then damn.

"Have you ever looked at Kuroo and thought he's hot?"

Akaashi put down his book, looking up and actually thinking about it. It took about a minute before he decided, shaking his head. "No. Not really." Kenma put his book down, glaring at Akaashi.

"What? Do you even have eyes?" Akaashi shrugged, closing his book, from his bed looking over at Kenma, who in his own bed was also closing his book. "Just not hot to me," Akaashi explained making Kenma roll his eyes, looking up at the ceiling. Both Akaashi and Kenma haven't talked to each other about how their boyfriends were leaving at the end of the week, and they probably weren't planning on talking to each other about it.

"So besides Bokuto-san, who do you think is attractive at Hogwarts?" Akaashi hummed, thinking about it, picking out the people he could admit were better looking than Bokuto. "Objectively? Or to me?""To you." Akaashi nodded, letting himself think for a bit.

"Oikawa-san is pretty, I guess.""Oikawa-san is a piece of shit." Akaashi didn't even deny it.

"Iwaizumi-san is nice to look at." Kenma nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess." 

Akaashi looked over at Kenma again, trying to see his expression, but Kenma was blankly looking up, not indicating any reason for asking these questions other than just curiosity.

"Why?" Kenma sighed, shaking his head, not wanting to say it out loud, but somehow it slipped out. "I don't want Kuroo to find someone better looking than me."

It was stupid. So stupid, Kenma felt stupid for being worried about something like this, but he couldn't get it out of his head. There were a lot of attractive people at Hogwarts, several that were muggle born.  
Insecurity was stupid, Kenma wished he could throw it away.

"If that's worrying you, then I suggest you tell Kuroo that," Akaashi advised with a small voice, knowing sometimes talking about things like this made Kenma a little jumpy, probably had a lot on his mind with this whole transfer and now needed either more encouragement or sense knocked into him. "He might be book smart, but I don't think he'll be able to tell how worried you are if you don't tell him."

That much was true. So far, Kuroo has only tried to win Kenma's affection by giving him things, and when it came to talking it just didn't work because Kuroo would bring up their separation like it was nothing. He was able to get a blowjob out of Kuroo because there was no discussion about anything else, just the two of them. He really regretted not getting farther though.

"I sometimes wish I was more like you, Akaashi," Kenma whispered, unsure if Akaashi could hear him. "I wish I could talk like you."

Akaashi said something back, but Kenma didn't hear, nor did he ask him to repeat.

" _Aguamenti_." A stream of water poured out of Hinata's wand, spraying on the grass. Clear, pure and clean water, actual drinkable water. Hinata jumped up and down in excitement when the spell worked, clapping his hands and letting the water stream out until he flicked his wand and made it stop.

"Ah, this is so much fun! My new wand is much lighter this time. This might be even better than my last one!" Hinata cheered, making Kenma smile a bit and nod as he watched Hinata getting excited about spells.

Hinata was leaving too, which was shitty. Kenma wasn't left with that many Gryffindors anymore, and even though sometimes they got annoying and loud, he had to admit he would miss them. Even the weirder ones, like Bokuto (Lev could leave for all he cared, he wasn't sure why he even knew his name) or Kogane. Kenma would miss Hinata a lot though.

"Thank you for buying it for me," Hinata giggled, sitting next to Kenma and showing it to him proudly. "I'll get good grades this year, I promise!" Hinata shifted while sitting down, humming a bit as he played with the tip of his wand. "If this new school is a bit easier though, it would be better."

Kenma, for some reason, could handle the talk of the separation with Hinata without feeling sick. "You scared?" Hinata hummed, tilting his head from side to side before nodding. "A little bit."

No one knew exactly what this new school was going to be like, all they knew was that it would be in the middle of the muggle world, right in the centre of Tokyo, and pose for a boarding school so if muggles encounter it, no one would really care or feel like it was out of place.   
Kenma wondered, what did a muggle school even look like? What did Kuroo's schools look like?

"But Halloween, there'll be a meetup again!" Hinata reminded Kenma, but Kenma just gave a disinterested nod. Halloween was always kind of lame to him, not understanding why people obsessed over it every year, but this year it seemed like it held a lot for the students. Especially the muggles, who were having the whole theme of the party half surrounding what they did in their world to celebrate.

"Did you hear though," Hinata sighed, crossing his arms over his lap and leaning forward. "The Whomping Willow's gonna be off limits. Because of the Lunar Eclipse, we won't be able to be there 'safely'. Which blows! Every year Kageyama and I bet each other who can get the closest. Now what are we supposed to do?"

The idea came to Kenma a few seconds in when Hinata said 'Whomping Willow' and 'off limits' in the same sentence, gulping at the idea and picturing it in his mind.

Whomping Willow. Off limits. Lunar Eclipse.

Dangerous. No students. Dark.

"Off limits. As in...""They're gonna close it off," Hinata pouted at Kenma. "But I guess the party will be fun enough. Maybe Kageyama and I can spend Halloween a little differently this year. Maybe he'd do a couples costume with me! Oh, that'd be fun! I have to ask him now."

Kenma stopped listening after Hinata said 'couples costume', already planning how he would spend his own Halloween.

Apparently Kuroo didn't have much to pack before he left, but Kenma felt that a proper goodbye was in need, even if Kuroo was confused and skeptical at first. They met each other at the back of the Ravenclaw tower, Kenma waiting outside, the blanket that usually warmed Tetsurou around his shoulders.

Kuroo was slow in his steps, but Kenma turned around when he heard the crunch of grass giving Kuroo away. 

"You...called me?"

Kenma had to swallow his pride as he nodded, waiting for Kuroo to walk closer to him. When Kuroo was only a few steps away, Kenma lifted his chin up, letting out a shaking breath.

"Change into a cat," he demanded, taking Kuroo back a bit but Kenma looked serious. Even though there was hesitance, Kuroo didn't ask any questions, nodding slowly and stepping back before changing into his animal, a black cat, the tuffs of fur on the top of his head swooping to one side, his tail all fluffy and soft. Kenma picked him up, glaring at the black cat, gritting his teeth.

He felt silly. He felt like he should be doing this while Kuroo was human.

But at the same time, this felt so much better.

"I...I-I," Kenma coughed, feeling the words getting stuck in his throat. If Kuroo were human this would be so much worse, so at least he wasn't vomiting yet. "Kuroo, I-" Kenma groaned softly, bowing his head down and shaking his head. This was a lot harder than he thought.

"Tetsurou," he took a deep breath and looked at the cat again, blinking a few times. The black cat, Kuroo, was looking back at him. "I-I'm going to m-miss you." Kenma finally managed to get out, choking on air as he cringed at what he just said.

Thankfully, the cat in his hands purred, nuzzling his head in Kenma's hand. Kenma knew that was supposed to encourage him, but it just made him blush even harder.

"And-And-" Kenma cleared his throat loudly, looking up at the sky and cursing before looking back at Tetsurou, biting his lip hard. Were there tears in his eyes? That wasn't good.

"I-I love you. So m-much. I love you so much!"

Kuroo turned back into human (after practicing over the summer he was able to transform back with his clothes on now), catching Kenma as he lost balance. Kenma stayed in his arms though, hiding his face in Kuroo's chest, shaking his head.

"Kenma-" Kenma hit Kuroo's stomach hard, making Kuroo 'oof', but he held in the pain. In that hit though, Kuroo understood why Kenma wanted silence, and why Kenma has been having a hard time these few days. Even though Kenma had a hard time relaying his emotions, Kuroo didn't mind spending time figuring out what Kenma meant by things he did instead of saying sweet things like 'I love you' or 'I miss you'.

This was Kenma's first time being in love, and he didn't know what to do.

So Kuroo stayed quiet, rubbing Kenma's back as they stayed in each other's arms. Kenma ended up loosening himself up, his tensed up body relaxing till his arms were at his sides and letting himself warm up in Kuroo's embrace. For about 20 minutes they were like this, and Kenma wished there would be many more moments he could experience such warmt.

"This Halloween," Kenma said quietly in Kuroo's shirt. "Hm?""This Halloween," Kenma looked up at Kuroo, his regular usual expression back on. Kuroo had to admit, he kind of missed it.

"This Halloween, they're planning to close the Whomping Willow," Kenma told Kuroo, Kuroo raising an eyebrow at the information, though he already knew that. "So?""So," Kenma continued on. "So meet me there on the night of Halloween. No one else will be there since it's closed off," Kenma tip toed, steadying himself by holding Kuroo's shoulders.

"We can be alone on Halloween."

Since the party would be big and there would be a lot of reunions, Kenma had a gut feeling Kuroo would be one of those people to talk to a bunch of other people who stayed at Hogwarts, and more or less, be the life of the party.  
So even if it would be for 10 minutes, and hour or the whole night, Kenma wanted to be alone, just the two of them. Kenma wanted Kuroo all to himself.

"You know, if you told me to jump off a cliff I'd do it."

And Kuroo wanted Kenma all to himself too.

"Don't tempt me."

Even though their relationship was fresh, young and had a lot to go through before it would be the strong relationship they would grow into, there had to be some trials they would face.

"I'd do anything you ask me to. If you asked me to stay, I'll stay."

Sometimes it would be difficult. When things wouldn't go their way, when there wasn't much they could do, they would have to remember that as long as they had each other, then maybe things weren't as bad as they thought. Facing a challenge head on wasn't reckless, it was brave. Not everything in life was something to be thought about, and not everything in life will be planned.

"Kiss me."

Kuroo kissed him. And at the end of the week, Kuroo would leave him, but he would promise to return, even if the world tried to stop him. 


	13. Interview IV

"Keiji, I told you already-""But dad-""Headmaster. I'm headmaster right now."

Akaashi was getting nowhere with this interview, just like how Bokuto warned him, and actually reassured him was okay. Maybe to Bokuto it was okay, but not to Akaashi. Bokuto couldn't be taken away, and he even made a paper about it.

Firstly, if Bokuto was taken away then wouldn't that be even more dangerous? Bokuto was literally the son of magic hunters, and even though they don't remember their son, wouldn't there still be some sort of target on Bokuto from anyone else, hunter or not? Hogwarts was supposed to be the safest school, Bokuto would have a much better chance staying.

Secondly, Bokuto separating the muggles in general would be discrimination. If anything, if the board and the ministry did want to have some sort of dilution in students, then maybe do it randomly? Wouldn't that make more sense, considering the irregular pattern, throwing off hunters and their aim. There was no repetition in hunting, just want and don't want. So to make the condensation of magic different in various areas, wouldn't that make it more difficult for hunters to decide and therefore making the chances of survival higher?

And lastly, Akaashi would really, really, really, really miss Bokuto. Like, a lot. And he hoped his dad would get that.

"Headmaster," Akaashi groaned softly, placing his hands on the headmaster's table and leaning forward. "You know Bokuto-san wouldn't do anything to harm the wizarding world. He loves it here! He wouldn't even hurt anyone in general, not a muggle or a wizard. You know that, don't you? Please da-headmaster. You can't send him away so easily."

Bokuto was looking around the room, trying not to make eye contact with the headmaster, however he felt like he shouldn't just leave Akaashi to do all the talking, especially when he was fighting for Bokuto to stay. These were supposed to be individual interviews, but headmaster Akaashi seemed to disregard that rule when he saw his son walking in as well.

"This isn't about whether we think Koutarou-kun is dangerous or not," headmaster Akaashi said firmly, not even looking like he was going to budge. It was halfway to the end of the week, other people probably had these concerns, Bokuto knew for a fact Hinata and Kageyama have been here, and Nishinoya would be next probably dragging Akaashi along. Kuroo probably pissed him off too a bit, and then there were people like Tanaka and Lev and Kogane - all leaving as well. 

The scariest part was that no one knew exactly what was happening. The ministry didn't give a big description of the place they were going, and headmaster Akaashi wasn't answering the important questions-

Why was it only muggle borns? Why wasn't the ministry taking precautions and keeping everyone together, which would make them stronger. Why weren't these muggle hunters being prosecuted?

Because at the end of the day, murder was murder - magic or not.

"The board and the ministry have all agreed that the separation for the school year will dilute the magical presence and make targeting lessen. We also believe that the muggle borns will have an easier time being separated from the magic world considering their experiences anyway. So I'm sorry, Keiji," headmaster Akaashi gave a sad smile to both Akaashi and Bokuto.

"But Koutarou-kun is leaving too. No matter how much we all want him to stay."

Nothing about the situation was fair, of course. And Akaashi was going to make sure he let people know this. Bokuto had every right to stay at the school, the ministry was just being extra by sending him away.

What Akaashi was forgetting though, was that it wasn't just Bokuto leaving. Everyone else who had muggle blood in them were leaving as well. 

"Akaashi," Bokuto tried to get his attention, putting his hands on Akaashi's shoulders, but Akaashi was too invested in the book he was reading. _Muggles in Magic_ , a very informative and interesting read. Maybe some of the ministry should pick this book up too.

"Did you know in 1896, muggles helped keep the identities of wizards secret from the government because they knew that they would get intimidated by the amount of power they hold?" Akaashi said suddenly, trying to avoid what Bokuto wanted to say because he had a feeling he knew what he wanted to say. "Bokuto-san isn't a a muggle. Bokuto-san is a wizard, like me and the headmaster. The only reason Bokuto-san should be associated with muggles is when we study for muggle studies together."

Bokuto sighed, rubbing his head a bit and biting his lip. "Akaashi-""Bokuto-san shouldn't be sent away. It's not fair."

No, it wasn't fair. But there were a lot of things that weren't fair.

One prime example being Bokuto and Akaashi being different ages. Bokuto would graduate and he would have to leave Akaashi for a whole school year, a school year just like this, and they wouldn't see each other as often.  
Or Bokuto and Akaashi being different houses. They didn't have the luxury of sleeping beside each other like Hinata and Kageyama, nor were they able to have certain conversations, and it was harder for them to have the same friends.

Things in life weren't fair. But that didn't make it a bad life.

"Akaashi," Bokuto pouted, taking the book out of Akaashi's hands and getting his attention. Akaashi had to occupy himself, playing with his fingers instead since now he had nothing to hold onto now. "When I see you stressed out it makes me sad."

Akaashi suddenly felt a tug at his chest, looking up at Bokuto and sighing, nodding his head slowly. If it was possible, Bokuto's hair had deflated along with his body and face, like his whole body had shut down when he saw Akaashi frowning.  
How was Akaashi supposed to respond to that?

"I don't wanna spend the rest of my time with Akaashi this year bored with a book," Bokuto whined, shaking Akaashi's hands and then holding them. "And I don't want Akaashi worrying so much this year. I'm gonna be with Kuroo anyway! What's the worse that can happen?"

So many things. So many terrible things could happen with Kuroo and Bokuto combined, but Akaashi didn't say it out loud because Bokuto's expression was too puppy-like that he didn't want to ruin it.

"Fine," Akaashi sighed, feeling like he lost the argument before he even made a statement, but Bokuto's excited face made Akaashi's heart and spirit lift up. Maybe this year wouldn't be too bad if he could just remember Bokuto's face right now.

"What do you want to do then?"  
"Mm, well," Bokuto laughed, clapping his hands together happily. "There is something I've always wanted to do with Akaashi."

During Akaashi's 3rd year and Bokuto's 4th, Akaashi won Bokuto's heart by gifting him a volleyball for his birthday. Akaashi didn't know what it did, and he had no intentions on touching it before.

"Yeah, like that!" Bokuto cheered Akaashi again as Akaashi's fingers pushed (not 'push' push, apparently that was a penalty if he did that?) the volleyball up in the air while Bokuto slammed it down on the ground, making the ball bounce high up and come back down just for Bokuto to go run and catch it.

"That's it! Did you see that, Akaashi? I _so_ hit it like a pro, don't you think?"

Akaashi panted, having to gulp because he was so thirsty, but he didn't want to leave Bokuto in the field by himself either to get some water. He felt really stupid now for leaving his wand all the way on the bleachers with his robes just because Bokuto told him it was a non-magic sport.   
Akaashi needed magic right now or he was going to pass out.

"And-" Akaashi huffed, wiping the sweat on his forehead. "And you play this...all summer?""Yeah!" Bokuto pumped a fist in the air. "Kuroo and I play all day! Here, I'll show you this feint attack I learned this year. Oh, you're gonna love it. So basically, I..." Akaashi's ears plugged, not being able to understand the rest of Bokuto's explanation, but he could see him throwing the ball in the air, pushing it down lightly with the tip of his fingertips. Apparently he pushed it with a little more force so it wasn't a 'tip' but a 'feint'? Akaashi wasn't too sure, but he was thinking this muggle game was completely stupid and how much he loved Quidditch more. Now, he found a new appreciation for flying too.

All of a sudden out of nowhere, two poles emerged from the ground, growing like trees and standing tall. On one side two strings were tied tightly, a net spreading from one end to the other, then another two strings tying tightly to the other side.

When Akaashi and Bokuto both looked up, they saw coming from the Gryffindor stadium Kuroo walking up to them, pointing his wand out.

"If you're gonna play the game, at least play it properly."

Akaashi had to hold in a groan and an eye roll, because honestly? He couldn't deal with Kuroo too right now. It was supposed to be his time with Bokuto so they could spend happy moments together before getting separated for a whole 10 months.

But Bokuto looked so happy to see Kuroo there, waving at him enthusiastically at him before throwing the ball up in the air and spiking it towards Kuroo, Kuroo putting his hands together and bending down to hit the ball back with his wrists, then Bokuto running up and doing that fingertip thing to pass it back to Kuroo, then Kuroo spiked it down-

Akaashi couldn't end the game so easily.

"This isn't a real game," Kuroo scoffed, looking between Akaashi and Bokuto, then nodded over to the net that Kuroo managed to put up using magic and summoning it. "Let's play one. Three on three at least."

Akaashi stiffened at the suggestion. Three on three? That meant they had to call three more people. That meant his 'alone' time with Bokuto wasn't 'alone' anymore. The minute Kuroo popped out of nowhere the alone time finished.

"Akaashi is a good setter!" Bokuto told Kuroo excitedly, pointing to Akaashi. "My hits have never been this good before!""Maybe they weren't that good to begin with."

Akaashi was still trying to figure out the lingo of volleyball, but Bokuto kept calling him a 'good setter' and told Akaashi he was a 'hitter' or 'spiker' and that meant that Bokuto and him were a matched set? He liked the sound of that, but he was still unclear about a lot of things.

"We should settle this with a game, shouldn't we?" Kuroo smirked at Bokuto, pushing the ball to Bokuto's chest. "Winner gets title of 'Ace' until the next game. Sound fair?" The way Bokuto's face was red, poofing up and intensifying in competitiveness, Akaashi got the feeling without having to be explained that 'Ace' must have been an important title.

"Fair!" Bokuto shouted, glaring at Kuroo. "But I call dibs on Akaashi!"

Kuroo raised an eyebrow at Akaashi then nodded, his smirk returning. Akaashi felt a weird chill down his spine, like Kuroo was telling him that this game of volleyball was a test and Akaashi was on the fence between passing and failing.

"Fine," Kuroo hummed, taking out his wand. "But I call dibs on Kogane then."

Apparently, all the muggle borns knew this sport. And all of them seemed to be quite good.

Without even watching one set, Akaashi felt out of place. Kuroo chose Kogane as his setter and Terushima as his spiker, both of them Gryffindors and both of them fully muggle born, not a drop of magic blood in them but both equally wizards.

Bokuto had Akaashi as his setter, and for his blocker he chose another Gryffindor, Lev, who was also a half blood. Even without explanation, 'blocker' plus Lev's height? Akaashi could do the math.

Each team was on their side of the net, Kuroo's team discussing in a circle what they were going to do and Bokuto on their side huddling the team of three together, discussing what their tactics would be.

"So, Lev," Bokuto whispered, checking over his shoulder once in a while if Kuroo was looking at them, but Akaashi assured him each time that Kuroo wasn't. "Terushima likes doing cool tricks when he plays. He's a good spiker though, and he picks up things quick, so you have to make sure you keep an eye on him when you block," Bokuto explained, Lev nodding slowly as he listened to Bokuto's instructions. "I on the other hand, have Kuroo to worry about. So Akaashi, if you could try to set to me in different directions that would be awesome!"

Akaashi had no idea what that meant, but he nodded anyway. He would just try a bunch of moves and wait for Bokuto to tell him what he did wrong or something.

"Alright. Let's do a team cheer. It has to be louder than their-""Let's go, let's go, let's go, Gryffindor!!" Kuroo screamed, and Bokuto _knew_ it was for him to hear. Bokuto glared at him, but looked back at his own team, putting his hand in the middle. Akaashi put his hand on Bokuto's and Lev did so as well.

"Let's go-o-o-o-o--!""Ow!" Lev winced once the volleyball thrown hit the back of his head. Bokuto whipped his head, his eyes narrowed at Kuroo who was innocently shrugging.

"Aw, don't tell me you were actually gonna finish that lame cheer of yours."

Bokuto picked the volleyball up and was about to throw it back, but Kuroo just snickered and gave Bokuto the finger. "Are we gonna start the game or not?" That seemed to hold Bokuto back, huffing as he took his wand out and started drawing lines on the ground with it. Akaashi wanted to tell him that it would ruin his wand if he did that, but Bokuto was almost done by the time Akaashi opened his mouth.

"I'm watching you," Bokuto grumbled, keeping his eyes on Kuroo, pointing at him. "One out and I'm calling it!" Kuroo chuckled, going up to the net and smirking at Bokuto between the strings, cocking his head a bit at him.

"Don't worry, Koutarou-kun," Akaashi wanted to tell Kuroo not to call Bokuto by his first name, but Bokuto was at the net too, staring dead at Kuroo through the squares. "I'd rather die than get a ball I touched be out."

Akaashi might have realized a little too late just how intense volleyball actually was.

"One touch!" Kuroo screamed, looking behind him to see Terushima diving on the ground and bumping the ball up. It was high enough for Kogane to volley it to the other side, zooming just on top of the net and landing on the ground, right in front of Akaashi, who did not dive on the dirty ground for it.

Bokuto vs. Kuroo - 10 - 14

"That's alright! It's our serve now then!" Akaashi didn't know how to serve, but it was his turn? So he tried to do it like Bokuto and Kuroo, throwing it up in the air and hitting it, but his wrist must not have hit it the same way and the ball hit the net.

"Another point for Kuroo's team!" Kuroo cheered, high-fiving Terushima and Kogane, sticking his tongue out at Bokuto when he turned around. Bokuto gritted his teeth as another point was added to Kuroo's side of the scoreboard (one Kogane was able to summon with his wand), fisting his hair with his hands.

"5 points! All we need is 5 points!"

Maybe it was because Bokuto wasn't on the Quidditch team, but this might have been the first time Akaashi has seen Bokuto break down because of a game. And in all honesty, Akaashi wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

"Bokuto-san, calm down," Akaashi said calmly, Kuroo's team already getting ready to serve. It was Kogane's turn. "Bokuto-san. I think I know what I should do for the next set," Lev leaned down to whisper in Bokuto's ear so no one else, not even Akaashi - their own team member, by the way - could hear them. Bokuto all of a sudden got excited, bumping chests with Lev, which made Lev's poor lanky body shake, stumbling backwards, but Bokuto was pumped as he went to the front of the net. Akaashi followed, holding his hands up like how Bokuto taught him to before a serve.

Kogane served, Lev dived for it, and instead of Akaashi setting it Bokuto was the one who went for it, jumping up in the air and about to spike it. Akaashi moved out of the way, waiting for Bokuto to hit the ball, but at the last minute he missed.  
From behind him Lev attacked, hitting the ball hard onto the other side, slamming itself to the ground before Terushima could save it. Both Bokuto and Lev screamed, high-fiving each other for getting the point.

Akaashi could see the passion and the fun Bokuto had playing this game. Bokuto looked like he was somewhere he belonged when he touched the volleyball, smiling with every attack and trying his best even though the points were far apart. This was the first time, the first time ever that Akaashi has seen Bokuto's regular already uplifting spirit rise even higher, not only getting excited for himself, but for his teammates too, cheering each other on and clapping even if they missed. He would give them a 'good hit' or 'next time' sort of phrase of encouragement.

It made Akaashi want to set better for Bokuto.

"Akaashi!""Bokuto-san." Akaashi tossed the ball to Bokuto before Bokuto jumped high in the air, his arm pulled back before slamming his palm into the ball, hitting the ball forcefully. Kuroo was there, jumping to block it, but Bokuto only hit harder, getting the ball between Kuroo's hands.

"Kogane!" Kogane dived behind Kuroo, receiving the ball, Terushima set it and Kuroo feinted the ball to the other side. Surprisingly, Akaashi was the one who got it first this time. It wasn't the routine, but he touched the ball, hitting it up with a fist. Lev was next, tossing the ball up.

"Sorry, it's short!" Lev called out, but Bokuto focused on the ball, running up to it before jumping. Kuroo jumped with him, smirking as he held his arms high up, blocking Bokuto's hit.

But Bokuto didn't hit. His fingertips lightly pushed the ball to the edge of the net, off to the right of the net as it slowly dropped, Terushima not being able to get to it on time.

Bokuto's feet dropped to the ground, seeing the ball on the ground on Kuroo's side of the night. He clenched his fists, his arms flexing as he faced the sky, laughing in victory even though it was just one point.

One point meant a lot in volleyball, Akaashi learned. Every point earned meant something. And Bokuto treated every point like it's own victory.

"Hey, hey, hey!!!"

Kuroo won the game, but Bokuto won Akaashi's heart.

"Guess I'm the 'Ace'-""Fuck you!" Bokuto kicked the back of Kuroo's leg, making Kuroo stagger but he just laughed, throwing the ball at Bokuto. Lev took down the net with his wand while Akaashi went up to Terushima, fiddling with his fingers as he watched the Grffyndor chug water out of his wand after using the ' _Aguamenti_ ' spell. Akaashi was going to do that in just a moment.

"So," Akaashi cleared his throat awkwardly, the one word getting Terushima's attention. "Volleyball is popular in the muggle world?"

Terushima was at Oikawa's birthday party, and even though him and Akaashi didn't talk, Terushima was friendly and would talk to almost anyone as long as they were nice to him too.

"Popular? I guess so!" Terushima answered with a shrug. "It's a known sport, but it's not like baseball where everyone watches it." Akaashi didn't ask what baseball was and would plan on asking someone else in the future to see if Bokuto liked that sport too.

"So how do you know how to play?" Akaashi asked, because Terushima couldn't have played that well without at least a little bit of practice. And there was no way he was playing volleyball at Hogwarts.

"I play with my friends over the summer! I don't know, it's just like any other sport I guess. But this one is the most fun in my opinion," Terushima grinned. Akaashi took his wand out, getting some water for himself and drinking it out of his wand, gulping it down. Even though it was September he was sweating so much after the game.

"Ah, right. Akaashi-kun, you're a pure blood, aren't you?"

Usually it didn't hurt that much when someone said it. Or maybe not hurt, but being called out for it, like he was the odd one out - and in the scenario he was - it made him feel out of place and awkward.  
It wasn't an insult to be a pure blood, a mudblood was what he was grateful for not being. So why did it punch his gut when Terushima asked?

"So you don't really know... .Still! You managed to play really well today, I was surprised! I think Bokuto was really happy to have you as his setter. He always complains when it's literally anyone else."

So Bokuto has played volleyball at Hogwarts before too? He loved the sport that much?

And only now Akaashi was paying attention?

"Don't worry about it too much," Terushima grinned, giving Akaashi' a thumbs up. "Bokuto-kun will have lots of people to play with this year! I'm sure there'll be a gym where-ah, right. A gym is this place in the muggle world-"

Akaashi stopped listening to Terushima after some time, worrying about Bokuto and him to his heart's content.

School for the people staying at Hogwarts started already while the people leaving were having time to pack and do their interviews. 

Akaashi was in Charms class, sitting beside Kenma as they jotted down some notes. The Ravenclaws had class with the Gryffindors, so at the desk beside them was sitting a surprising, but good friend.

"No offence Akaashi, but your dad is being a real dick right now."

Nishinoya used his words so nicely, didn't he? Akaashi thought it was refreshing when in class him and Kenma rarely talked unless it was about the work. Ever since Nishinoya and him became friends (which happened only a year ago) Nishinoya and him have been hanging out more, even outside the classroom. And with Nishinoya, came Tanaka.

"Yeah, he's sending me away too," Tanaka groaned, hitting the desk a little too loudly, making the students around them jump. Nishinoya's eyes widened, whipping his head at Tanaka.

"Wait-Wa-Wait, what?!" Nishinoya yelled in Tanaka's face, clearly shocked by this news, Akaashi could figure out that Tanaka didn't tell him before. "Why?! You're full wizard!""Yeah, but," Tanaka sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he flinched around his seat. "I thought it would be fun to charm some old muggle car to fly and was using it all summer. Apparently someone caught me and now I have to be sent away..."

Nishinoya screamed, half lecturing and half questioning Tanaka about what he was up to all summer.

"You had a _flying muggle_ con-contra-thing! And-And you didn't even think to call me?"  
"Every time you had free time you were with Asahi-san! What was I supposed to do?"  
"Fuck you, Ryuu! Honestly, you must've had such a _blast_ without me, huh?"  
"Quit being such a girl about it, I'll let you drive it next time if it makes you stop being so prissy."

It went without saying that Akaashi was getting a lot of glares and stares in the hallway by people being sent away or had someone they didn't want leaving being sent away. Nishinoya didn't hesitate fighting everyone who tried Akaashi, but even Nishinoya had a limit. He wasn't happy about Asahi being sent away, and now he knew for a fact he wouldn't let Akaashi go for sending Tanaka away - even though it wasn't Akaashi's idea, it was his dad's.

"Nishinoya, when's your interview?" Akaashi asked when Nishinoya and Tanaka made up in a surprisingly short time, back to making jokes and snickering at the different funny spells in their textbook. Nishinoya looked over at Akaashi and sighed.

"Tomorrow, 8 AM," Nishinoya told him, groaning softly. "I have to wake Asahi-san up too. He's being so stubborn about this. He's saying shit like 'it can't be helped' or 'it's just a couple months, it's not the end of the world'. Ahhh, pissing me off."

So it wasn't just Bokuto, but Asahi too. If Akaashi thought about it though, it was Kuroo too. And Terushima, and Kogane, and Lev, and even Hinata, everyone who was leaving because they had muggle blood in them.

'It can't be helped' - did they really not mind that much being separated from Hogwarts? Or maybe, this was something they were expecting in the first place.

"Ryuu is leaving me too," Nishinoya sulked, banging his head on the table. "What the hell am I supposed to do for the whole year? Read with the Ravenclaws?"

Akaashi found it kind of cute when Tanaka patted his back and told him everything would be alright.

"You know, I read a whole book for Asahi-san. A whole _book_. A fucking-I read something for a person. Do you see why there's a problem with this leave, Akaashi?! Do you know how _bored_ I was reading ' _Hogwarts : A History_ '? Ugh! I'm so annoyed!"

Akaashi and Nishinoya were a scream away from getting kicked out of the library. 

"Well, weren't you supposed to read that book in your 2nd year?""You don't know me, Akaashi, if you thought I was willing to open a book just for a number you people call a grade."

Now that Akaashi and Nishinoya knew they were staying back together, they started planning little meetups when Bokuto and Asahi were busy with the whole transfer business, having to fill out forms and stuff, packing, talking to the other people leaving - apparently Tanaka wasn't the only pure blood who had to transfer.

"Hey, Nishinoya," Akaashi called out softly as Nishinoya pulled out another textbook, ' _Famous_ _Muggles : Where Are They Now?_ ', looking over at Akaashi. "Do you...Do you know a lot about the muggle world? I mean, just from Asahi-san. How much do you know?"

Akaashi knew Asahi was a half blood, so Nishinoya couldn't know that much, right? Or at least he couldn't know more than Akaashi. Akaashi has even been to the muggle world multiple times. Granted, Akaashi always let Bokuto do the talking, and Kuroo was there cockblocking his date.

"What do I know?" Nishinoya hummed, thinking about his answer. "I like to think I know a lot, but I'm sure there are things I haven't done or seen or heard about yet. Like, I know I like the movies they have better than the motion pictures in the wizarding world. It's cool to have 3D ghosts acting in front of you, but there's something about a 2D screen that's so exciting! But I only like action movies. Oh! I like their food better too. Asahi-san makes me these pork bun things that we don't have, and I like watching him make it with his hands, not with his wand. I don't know, they taste better when it has hard work put into it. Then there's the jobs - did you know there's a job for the muggles that handle teeth? They straighten them and clean them. It must be hard and gross, right? But Asahi-san said they get paid a lot. I think at least 100 Galleons an hour or something."

Akaashi realized, in that dark, sad, moment, there was something Nishinoya knew more about than him. And it was something actually important.

"Oh."

It was all Akaashi could say. He couldn't even put his opinion down because he's never heard a lot of these things Nishinoya was talking about, Bokuto never told him and Akaashi never bothered to ask.

Why didn't Bokuto ever feed him information about the muggle world in the first place?

"If, say, you and Asahi-san moved in together-""Right when I graduate!" Nishinoya said confidently, Akaashi sort of admired it. " Right," Akaashi continued on. "Will you two be living in the muggle world or the wizarding world?"

Nishinoya took his time, flipping through books he picked up, sighing loudly and looking up as he scrunched his face together, trying to think about his answer. Akaashi understood - it was a tough question.

"I think I'll have to ask Asahi-san that," Nishinoya muttered with a shrug. "Whichever he's more comfortable with, I guess. Even though I would like to stay in the wizarding world, it's something that I'll have to talk to him about when the time comes."

Was it bad that Akaashi would answer with the wizarding world in a heartbeat? He was glad Nishinoya didn't ask the question back.

"Bokuto-san, please don't-" Akaashi groaned as he caught Bokuto's cape when he threw it behind him, shaking his head but also sneakily smelled Bokuto's cape and indulging a bit.   
He was going to miss Bokuto so much.

"Say that again to my face, fucker."  
"Don't put your face so close to mine first," Kuroo pushed Bokuto away, making a face of disgust at him. Akaashi wasn't quite sure what they were arguing about this time, but now that Kenma was talking to Kuroo again he at least had him.

"You know, Kuroo doesn't mean to do this," Kenma leaned into Akaashi as they watched both Bokuto and Kuroo going head to head, pressing their hands against each other and pushing them, making each other struggle. "He just likes to pick fights."

Akaashi could believe that easily, but he didn't think that right now was a time to fight. Bokuto and Kuroo would have plenty of time to fight when they left Hogwarts together, and Akaashi would have no time to pester Bokuto about how he shouldn't throw clothes around when he felt like it.

"I just wish it wouldn't be with Bokuto-san," Akaashi sighed, watching Kuroo push Bokuto down and laughing hard. Bokuto responded by kicking Kuroo in the crotch, ultimately winning the fight once Kuroo fell to the ground.

"In times like this, I wonder if Bokuto-san loves me or Kuroo."

Kenma nodded, rolling his eyes as Kuroo started calling for Kenma to support him, but Kenma turned around and started walking back into the school, Akaashi tempted to follow him, but he hesitated when Bokuto called out for him.

"Akaashi," Bokuto moaned in a sad, dramatic way, making Akaashi's eyes go soft and walking towards him, holding his hand out to lift Bokuto up. "Akaashi, you don't deserve a man like me. You deserve a man who can win a fight easily. Don't look at me." 

Akaashi held in a eye roll himself, bringing Bokuto back on his feet, going behind Bokuto and dusting the dirt off of his clothes. "Don't say that, Bokuto-san," Akaashi said, but his tone was slightly sarcastic. Only Kuroo picked up on it between the two of them. "I only want you."

Bokuto's eyes watered, throwing his arms around Akaashi's neck making Akaashi huff in shock with the strength Bokuto put in the hug. "Akaashi!" Bokuto cried out, Akaashi's heart clenching a bit. "Akaashi, I only want you too!"

Akaashi wanted to ask Bokuto to try again with an interview, to ask his dad once more to let Bokuto stay and maybe they could get through with a loophole. Maybe they could get more information, maybe they could get more facts, maybe they could have stronger arguments.

Maybe they could win.

"Get a room," Kuroo groaned, standing up and started walking back to the school, not forgetting to give Bokuto the middle finger. "No one wants to see you two fuck out in the open."

Bokuto let go of Akaashi to run to Kuroo, kicking him in the ass. Akaashi wished he had the energy to do the same.

"Hinata?" Akaashi called out softly at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. Bokuto and Kuroo were together in the Quidditch field, playing another game of volleyball, and even though Bokuto begged, Akaashi refused being his setter for today. He needed to do something else.

"Akaashi-san!" Hinata jumped up from his seat, running over to Akaashi at the door. "Bokuto-san is outside if you're looking for him.""Yes, I know," Akaashi nodded. "I'm here for you."

Hinata's confused face nodded slowly, looking back and telling Kageyama he would be right back. Kageyama didn't look too happy about it, but he waved his hand at Hinata, telling him to be quick.  
Akaashi remembered seconds later that Kageyama would be staying at Hogwarts too.

"Thank you," Akaashi bowed to Kageyama, making Kageyama stiffen and make his cheeks red, but nodded, bowing back. "Hinata, let's go somewhere a little more quiet though," Akaashi said, leading Hinata down the stairs. He chose to take Hinata to the Ravenclaw tower instead, under the staircase and making Hinata stand in front of him, fiddling with his fingers as Hinata waited for him to say something. Hinata's face was bright and anticipating, like Akaashi did something worth admiring.   
Akaashi knew Hinata idolized Bokuto, and for reasons Akaashi was still wasn't sure about.

"Hinata, I know you're leaving," Akaashi started off saying, and with the way Hinata's face dropped Akaashi could confirm it. "I'm sad you're going too. But, I have a request."

Hinata's face lifted up, nodding enthusiastically, ready to do something for his senior and help him out. Akaashi felt a little guilty he was asking someone younger to do this for him, but there was no way he was asking Kuroo and there was no one else leaving that would be willing to do this or was close enough enough with Akaashi for him to ask them.  
So Hinata was his best option, especially since he was so willing.

"When you leave with Bokuto-san, do you mind keeping an eye on him? Just make sure he isn't too depressed and maybe check on him once in a while?"

The request shocked Hinata, sputtering out nonsense before trying to either nod or shake his head, Akaashi couldn't tell. It wasn't until a minute later that Hinata bursted, jumping up and down excitedly - excitedly? Maybe eagerly. Over energetic, a big ball of sunshine that Akaashi had to squint at just to see him, Akaashi was wondering how Kageyama did it.

Bokuto wasn't the sun. He was a star, sure, but not the same as the sun. Maybe like the Canopus, bright and shining, but not necessarily the brightest. It was obnoxious, got people's attention, beautiful and appreciated - but Akaashi didn't have to squint to see him. Bokuto was just perfect to stare at.

"Of course! Bokuto-san will be-will be under my care, I promise, Akaashi-san! I'll make sure he's happy all the time and upbeat no matter what! He won't change at all when he comes back!"

Akaashi's heart settled, realizing that he chose the best person for this job because if anyone but Akaashi could make Bokuto happy, it was Hinata. Perhaps he should be worrying about Hinata instead of Kuroo taking Akaashi's place as number 1 in Bokuto's heart.

No, Bokuto only saw Akaashi, even Akaashi knew this.

"Thank you, Hinata," Akaashi patted his head, Hinata beaming up at him like a puppy. "If you could write to me as well, I would appreciate it. On Halloween, maybe you could also report to me one how he was for the first 2 months. It'll be just for a bit, I know you would want to spend your time mainly with Kageyama, but I would really, really like to just know how Bokuto-san is on his own." Hinata nodded, throwing his hands up in the air and giggling.

"Anything for Bokuto-san! Akaashi-san, you're such a good boyfriend! I hope when Kageyama and I get older we'll be like the two of you!"

Akaashi let out a small laugh, nodding slowly as he stopped patting Hinata's hair. It felt nice to be admired, but he wondered if Hinata would act the same if he realized that Akaashi didn't understand the world of muggles despite having a fully muggle born boyfriend, and never showed interest in the muggle world to start with.  
Would Hinata still admire Akaashi when he realized he was as bad as the ignorant, stuck up pure bloods everyone complained about?

Akaashi was educating himself though with the help off Nishinoya out of all people (obviously he hit a dead end and was crawling into a dark hole at this point).

"Hinata, I appreciate this. A lot." Akaashi bowed to him, Hinata quickly getting flustered, but Akaashi insisted.

"And, I apologize," Akaashi said softly. Despite telling himself this whole week that none of this was his fault, Akaashi felt like this one apology was worth it. Hinata cocked his head, but before he could ask Akaashi was looking at him, standing up straight again.

"None of you deserve to be sent away, yet you are. I apologize it's you who has to go through this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terushima - Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?  
> I saw a few posts saying he would be a Hufflepuff, but then I saw a post saying the whole Johzenji team was just a bunch of Hinatas. I like Terushima as a Gryffindor, but a Hufflepuff would be cute too ^^


	14. Interview V

"I have almost gotten suspended at _least_ 5 times in my time here at Hogwarts. I really believe I should be leaving with the others."

Headmaster Akaashi groaned softly, rubbing his forehead as he listened to Nishinoya's argument for maybe the seventh time in their interview. Nishinoya had brought up almost getting suspended, the fact that he was powerful enough to almost blow up a whole tower and he defeated a dementor in his 4th year. 'Isn't that suspicious?' Nishinoya would say. 'Shouldn't I be sent away?'

"Yes, Nishinoya-san, but you were in fact _not_ suspended, were you?" Nishinoya gritted his teeth, hitting his knee hard, trying to get the point across once more, but headmaster Akaashi put his hand up, signalling Nishinoya to stop.

"Firstly, these are _individual_ interviews. I thought I made it quite clear, but it seems like the students here at Hogwarts are still on summer vacation," headmaster Akaashi sighed, looking behind Nishinoya, Asahi flinching and shaking when he made eye contact with the headmaster. It's not like Asahi wanted to be there too! He was dragged against his will - well, not completely against his will, he wanted to be there for Nishinoya at least - having to stand in front of the headmaster and argue for something Asahi didn't want to argue about.  
Asahi wasn't mad he was leaving, but Nishinoya seemed to have other thoughts.

"I love muggles," Nishinoya suddenly said, folding his hands together over his lap, leaning forward. "I am very, very interested in muggle things. Ask me anything, I'll tell you all about those muggles. Really, ask me. Go ahead, ask me."

Headmaster Akaashi looked at Nishinoya with a mix of disappointment and disinterest. "Nishinoya-san, I think we should end the interview now.""No!"

Nishinoya had to take a deep breath to calm himself and not accidentally get himself kicked out. "In the textbook, _Hogwarts : A History_ , it's mentioned that the school is charmed so that to muggles it looks like some old house no one wants to touch," Nishinoya stated confidently. "That means this has to be the safest place for the muggle born students, any student for that matter! Asahi-san-I mean, all the students should stay if this is for their protection."

Asahi looked at Nishinoya, shocked that he would put a factual argument on the table considering his 26% in history in Nishinoya's 2nd year, when he actually had to read _Hogwarts : A History_. 26% was good though! It was 16% higher than what Nishinoya was used to.

"I don't understand," headmaster Akaashi furrowed his eyebrows at Nishinoya. "Do you want Azumane-san to stay or do you want to leave with him?"

Nishinoya's cheeks puffed up in frustration, feeling his whole body twitch. If Asahi didn't pat his back to soothe him, Nishinoya was sure he wouldn't blew up right then and there.

"Is there really no way," Asahi started asking, making Nishinoya's head snap up and beam when he saw Asahi as well was trying to fight back in his own way. "Is there really no way for me to stay here at Hogwarts? My sister and I are in different houses, it might be even more difficult for me to-""Yes, I know about your sister, Azumane-san," headmaster Akaashi cut him off, having already discussed with other people about the sibling problem, especially if they were in different houses. "And I can assure you, that process will be handled professionally as well. There will be no restrictions if it comes to family."

Asahi gulped, nodding his head slowly as he watched Nishinoya deflate. Nishinoya did his research, worked hard for this interview - he even woke Asahi up at 7:30 AM just to get them both prepared and ready for the interview. Those were hell hours for Asahi.

So why was nothing working?

"I'm sorry, boys," headmaster Akaashi leaned back on his big leather chair, giving them a helpless smile. "If this is bothering you so much, maybe take the complaint to the ministry. But for me, I'm going to have to send Azumane-san away for the school year. As long as he's a half blood, he's going with the others."

Take it to the ministry? Did headmaster Akaashi think Nishinoya wouldn't?

"Thank you, headmaster," Asahi bowed to headmaster Akaashi, trying to get Nishinoya to stand up, but Nishinoya flinched, shaking his head and staying in his seat. "Wait, I'm not done-""Please, Noya-kun," Asahi pleaded, pulling Nishinoya out of his seat. Nishinoya didn't know if it was because Asahi was tired or perhaps because this interview has been going on for over an hour, but Asahi really looked like he wanted to leave.

"Fine," Nishinoya huffed, pushing his chair back as he stood properly, glaring at the headmaster. "Just know your son is getting harassed because of this! At least tell the other students to leave him alone!"

The headmaster stared at Nishinoya indifferently, making Nishinoya even more irritated as he turned and stormed out of the office. Asahi gave the headmaster a hesitant and shaky bow.

"Tha-Thank you, headmaster," Asahi coughed before running out of the room as well, already knowing which way Nishinoya stomped off to without having to think to hard about it.

"Annoying. Pissing me off. First Asahi-san then Ryuu... .I mean, who does that leave me with? Kageyama-kun? Daichi-san?" Nishinoya screamed as he kicked the big tree, one that Asahi planted for him a long time ago. It wasn't fully grown, and Nishinoya might have put an enhancing growth spell in the fertilizer to make the process go faster and the tree trunk thicker, but it was a nice big, tough sturdy tree Nishinoya has been using as a punching bag recently when he got pent up. And, it was near Asahi's greenhouse garden, so while Asahi watered the flowers, Nishinoya could wrestle the big piece of wood.

"Tanaka-kun is leaving too?""Yeah," Nishinoya huffed, breaking a branch of the tree and hitting the trunk with it multiple times till the branch broke. "Because he had a fun summer, he's getting sent away. I had a fun summer too! I even went to the muggle world. But did headmaster Akaashi count that?"

Nishinoya gritted his teeth, jumping on one of the branches and breaking off another part of the tree before snapping the stick in half multiple times, throwing the remains far into the distance, then yelled into the sky.

"This. Isn't. Fair!!" Nishinoya panted, wiping the sweat he broke off his forehead with the back of his hand. "Why aren't you more worked up?"

This has been asked to Asahi a few times, by Daichi, by Kageyama, even by a few other pure blood Hufflepuffs that were staying. Why wasn't Asahi mad at the separation, or just seemed rather accepting of it in general?

"Well," Asahi shrugged, giving Nishinoya a small smile. "I'm a half blood. Something like this, I guess...I'm used to it? If I were to put it into the words, the feelings I'm having being separated from pure bloods, this isn't unfamiliar." Nishinoya furrowed his eyebrows, sitting next to Asahi.

"Having muggle blood in me, I'm used to being treated weirdly. It's not a big deal."

Now, this definitely got Nishinoya's attention, the first time Asahi had said something like this and bringing up the fact that he was being treated differently just because he was 'half muggle', but last time Nishinoya checked he was also full wizard.

"What do you mean by 'treated weirdly'?" Nishinoya asked, on the verge of getting angry. "What do people do? Stare at you or something?

Asahi hummed, giving a small shrug to Nishinoya, but Nishinoya was waiting for a proper answer, wanting to know exactly what Asahi has been experiencing. Things that Nishinoya didn't know, but should have.

"Like, when I go to buy my textbooks and my mom comes because my dad has work," Asahi said, Nishinoya nodding for him to continue. "They give us both weird looks, especially when my mom has trouble understanding the wizarding lingo." 

Nishinoya has met Asahi's mom a few times, and she was the sweetest person besides Asahi (Asahi had to get it from somewhere). How could people be mean to her?

"Or if someone asks where I live and I tell them the muggle world. They get shocked and start treating me differently," Asahi told him, and before Nishinoya could ask Asahi was continuing. "They'll start explaining everything about the wizarding world as if I don't know about it. Or they'll dumb down their words or even offer me non-magic options of things. Something like this, I've experienced many times."

And Nishinoya had no clue about it. He always assumed the wizarding world wasn't discriminatory to wizards, especially when there were many powerful muggle born wizards, Asahi being one of them and countless others like Kuroo, Sugawara - all of them leaving but having every right to stay.

"You really..." Asahi nodded, his smile turning a little sad. "Yeah."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes as Nishinoya processed what Asahi said, imagining what Asahi had went through. Asahi already probably faced a lot of prejudice (yes, Nishinoya learned the word and used it at least 5 times a day to remember it) because of the way he looked. Once people found out he was half muggle they must've downgraded him badly, right?  
That wasn't fair. That was even more unfair than Asahi getting sent away!

"Asahi-san," Nishinoya crawled in front of Asahi, putting his hands on Asahi's cheeks, making Asahi's eyes go wide but he didn't pull back. "You deserve better, you know?" Nishinoya gave Asahi a quick peck on the lips, but then wanted more so he gave him an even longer kiss. Asahi put his hands on Nishinoya's waist, but before the kiss could get any farther Nishinoya pulled away.

"I'll make sure you don't experience anything like that ever again."

If Asahi wasn't so dazed by the kiss, maybe he would've asked what Nishinoya meant by that.

"Acts against muggles are unjust! Muggle born kids are just like us!"  
"Pure blood, half blood, muggle born - we're all the same! Share the magic!"

Nishinoya and Tanaka have been handing out flyers since lunch time, of course not forgetting to bring a big plate of food for themselves, as they did their PSAs in the hallway about how muggle born wizards were being treated unfairly and no one was talking about it.

"Here, take a flyer," Nishinoya shoved a flyer into some 1st year's chest, Tanaka doing the same thing and making sure that everyone that passed them were being well informed about the issue. Why hasn't anyone brought this up? Not Bokuto, not Kuroo - even though sometimes they would talk about it, just not do anything. Or maybe Nishinoya just never payed attention.

The flyers had big, bold red letters, saying things like 'Muggle Justice' or 'Might for Muggles', the words moving every time someone crumpled the paper up and threw it in the trash, just for the words to come off the paper and stick onto whoever threw it out's chest so that the same words would be on them for the whole day. Nishinoya was making sure no one who passed him was going to be misinformed.

"Nishinoya-san," Yachi softly whined, walking up to Nishinoya with a pile of her own flyers, the Halloween ones that Yachi has literally been handing out the whole week. "The Halloween party committee is here during lunch. This is kind of ruining our promotions," Yachi motioned to Nishinoya and Tanaka's whole stand they made for themselves, and the infinite amount of flyers that seemed to be popping out of nowhere.  
Why was Yachi so annoyed by this? Nishinoya was helping her too since Yachi was a half blood.

"You had the whole week!" Nishinoya exclaimed, making Yachi flinch and take a step back, but she didn't run away like some other Hufflepuffs would. Nishinoya was pretty sure the only reason she had the courage to come up to Nishinoya so easily was because the two talked before through Asahi.

"Ryuu and I just wanted to have the hallway for a few days. Don't worry, we'll be sure to stay out of your way." Yachi's expression showed that she was about to give up, but was conflicted because she was probably given the responsibility of promoting the Halloween party coming up. Nishinoya wasn't going to back down either though.

"I never said you couldn't hand out your flyers! Go ahead and tell everyone about that Halloween pa-""Oi, Yuu," Tanaka all of a sudden stopped him, his eyes wide on Yach and smiling, holding his chest.   
Nishinoya could've clocked him right then and there.

"You can have the whole school if you want!" Tanaka shouted in Yachi's face, actually making Yach back away this time, whimpering softly at the sudden shouting, clutching her flyers tighter. "It-It's fine, actual-""No! Yuu, come on! Let's give her the hallway already." 

Nishinoya groaned in protest, shaking his head. What was more important, equality for muggle born students or a Halloween party?

"Come on, cutie, you can have the stand even!" Tanaka pushed the papers off of their stand that Nishinoya _accio_ 'ed in front of the dining hall entrance so that as students entered and exited for lunch they could hand out their flyers. "Here, take it! The Halloween party will be amazing this year if someone as beautiful as you is on the planning party!"

Before Nishinoya could hit Tanaka he already felt a strong hand grab the back of his caller, lifting him up, another hand on the back of Tanaka's collar, also pulling him back  
Nishinoya could recognize this grip anywhere on his body at this point.

"What." Daichi's voice was firm, suppressing so much anger in him, Nishinoya could tell. "Do you two think you're doing."

Nishinoya chocked as Daichi lifted him higher, moving his body to try and get put down, but Daichi didn't even loosen his grip. Nishinoya could feel the fire behind them right now, but if he explained then Daichi would surely feel stupid! This movement was also helping Sugawara too!

"Here-" Tanaka barely breathed out as he handed a flyer to Daichi as well. "Take a look!"

Daichi decided to let go of Nishinoya first, snatching the flyer from Tanaka's hand and reading it. Nishinoya was beaming proudly, waiting for an apology from Daichi or something, some sort of praise which Daichi has been giving him a lot of recently.

Instead, Daichi smacked both of them on the head hard, Nishinoya could feel the bump forming. He had to rub the spot hard, groaning in pain, but the furious look in Daichi's eyes was what made him even more confused and upset.

What did he do wrong? This was probably the smartest thing Nishinoya has thought of in his whole lifetime. Well, not counting choosing Asahi as his boyfriend.

"You two," Daichi growled, taking both of them by the ear. "Need a talk."

So now they were at back at the Gryffindor tower, Daichi sat both Tanaka and Nishinoya on the couch. He had his arms crossed, looking down at them with an intense stare, Nishinoya was really getting the feeling of a lecture coming on. But Daichi was taking his time, like he was letting Nishinoya and Tanaka reflect on their actions despite them not having done something wrong.

"Do you two know why I'm mad?"

It was a slow, hesitant shake, which made Daichi groan, facepalming hard.

"'Justice for Muggles'?'Muggle Might'? Do you not hear what's wrong with this?"

Nishinoya's shocked face was enough to answer Daichi's question, holding his hand up to stop Nishinoya from arguing with him. "No. This isn't right. You two need to take back these flyers and stop promoting this. Now."

Nishinoya's jaw dropped, not believing Daichi could say such a thing. Nishinoya was literally fighting for muggle justice in the wizarding world where muggles were discriminated against. What was wrong with his methods?

"But-But don't you know how they're treated? Muggles are being sent away because of what? They didn't do anything wrong!""See-" Daichi sighed loudly, putting a hand on his hip and dropping his head in frustration. Waiting, Nishinoya stood up as well, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do you not hear yourself?" Daichi asked in disbelief. "'Muggles' are being sent away? Last time I checked, Asahi was a wizard!" Nishinoya sputtered, shaking his head, waving his hands around.

"You know what I'm saying!""No. Because even _you_ don't know what you're saying." Daichi pushed the flyer back into Nishinoya's chest hard, making Nishinoya fall back on the couch.

"Asahi, Suga, Kuroo, Bokuto, Hinata - they are all wizards, raised here, know how to do magic, talk like us, do things like us. They were born from muggle parents. That's it. Other than that they're _wizards_ , you hear me?" Nishinoya didn't understand, but then again he did happen to dive into this quite quickly. Perhaps he should've educated himself more?

Perhaps, but Nishinoya wasn't going to so easily. He felt like action was the best way to face these sorts of things.  
As if Nishinoya has had to face these sorts of things before.

"But Daichi-san-""No," Daichi shook his head, pointing a finger at Nishinoya then at Tanaka. "This is even more degrading than saying some dumb crap like 'muggles are just like wizards'. Because they aren't. Muggles and wizards are both unique with different lifestyles and different backgrounds. There's no need for you to...to-I don't even know what you're doing! Are you trying to free muggles or something? From what!"

Nishinoya gulped, looking down at the flyer again and sighing. Now that he thought about it, he was mostly prompted by just wanting Asahi to stay at Hogwarts.

"Fine," Nishinoya grumbled, throwing the flyer to the side, stopping the words from sticking to his shirt with his wand in time before they were even able to fly onto him.  
Nishinoya's dejected face made Daichi sighed, walking up to him and patting him on the shoulder to let him know that Daichi wasn't mad, but Nishinoya needed to know what he was doing, or rather how he was doing it, wasn't the right way.

"Your heart's in the right place. I get it," Daichi said slowly, but Nishinoya still wasn't looking at him. "But this isn't how you do it. Muggles and wizards are on the same level, they both matter. Trust me when I say this though, you need to look more into the difference between 'muggle born' and an actual 'muggle' before you decide to do something like this again."

Nishinoya knew the damn difference. He still looked it up though, just to make sure.

"The best way to treat it is just by acknowledging that we come from a different background," Kuroo explained to Nishinoya, the two of them walking down the hallway together after a few rounds of one on one Quidditch, mainly just practicing throwing the quaffle into the hoops. It didn't even matter though, because it wasn't like Quidditch could happen this year either.

"Yes, we live different lifestyles at home from pure bloods, but doesn't everyone live a little differently anyway?" Kuroo shrugged, Nishinoya nodding at Kuroo's explanation, which was much more clear than Daichi's. Nishinoya had to remember though, Kuroo was a half blood too.

"At the end of the day, we were raised as wizards. Even if we had muggle parents and felt like we lived mainly in the muggle world, we're surrounded by magic whether we like it or not. So to only focus on the muggle aspect of us, sure it's considerate, but then what was even the point of us being in the wizarding world in the first place?" Nishinoya nodded again, his head feeling like it was going to explode from all this information. "So just keep that in mind, I guess. Muggle born doesn't mean muggle. It just mean we know about both worlds and can live both lives."

Asahi lived in the muggle world, Nishinoya learning that it was because of how muggle objects actually helped a lot to wizards when used properly and since his dad was in the agricultural department of things in the Ministry of Magic, it was a good place that they lived in the provinces as well.

Nishinoya knew this, however, so he didn't understand why he was getting lectured for it over and over again. "You still don't know why your flyers were offensive, huh?" Nishinoya jumped a bit at the question, but then nodded, Kuroo chuckling a bit and nodding.

"Hmm. What if a bunch of Slytherins were to put up signs saying 'lions deserve better' right after the whole Gryffindor house got detention even though just a couple of Gryffindors did something wrong. How would you feel?"

Nishinoya gritted his teeth at the mention of Slytherins, being maybe the person who hated Slytherins the most in the entire history of Hogwarts. "It doesn't make sense, right?" Kuroo went on, "because that's not the way to do it. Because we aren't actually lions, right? We're Gryffindors. And to top it off, to have someone who isn't a Gryffindor being the one to initiate advocacy? It would've been better for a Gryffindor to start it off, right? Maybe you should've asked an actual muggle born first if what you were doing was okay. Otherwise it looks like you're exploiting them, don't you think?"

So many big words, but Nishinoya could kind of understand where Kuroo was coming from. He nodded anyway, needing to ask Akaashi later what 'advocacy' and 'exploit' meant. All Nishinoya picked up though was that he wasn't supposed to do this again. 

"Heyo, Kuroo!"

Speaking of Slytherins. Oikawa and Iwaizumi were walking from the other side of the hallway, Oikawa with his arm linked in Iwaizumi's. Nishinoya rolled his eyes a them, but Kuroo greeted them happily.  
Sometimes Nishinoya didn't quite understand Kuroo's friend choices, but he decided to stop and wait for Kuroo to stop interacting with them soon.

"What's up?" Kuroo chuckled, lighting punching Iwaizumi's side, the three 6th years starting to have a conversation about classes that Nishinoya didn't care about. Apparently Slytherins and Gryffindors were together for every single class again - so that meant it happened last year too.

"Oh, Noya-kun, you can go ahead," Kuroo pointed behind him. "I'm gonna head to the field with these two and show Oikawa how to actually play a real sport." Oikawa let go of Iwaizumi to slap Kuroo's shoulder, making Kuroo laugh and start high fiving every slap Oikawa tried to give him.

Even though Nishinoya hated Slytherins, it must've been nice for Oikawa and Iwaizumi to have each other through this separation.

"Whatever," Nishinoya grumbled, walking passed Kuroo and storming off to the Gryffindor tower. Oikawa and Iwaizumi watched him, Kuroo making sure that Nishinoya turned properly.

"You still haven't told him about the Forbidden Forest?" Iwaizumi asked, Oikawa shaking his head. Kuroo looked back at them, knowing the story as well and not believing that Oikawa has had so much restraint despite Nishinoya talking so much shit about Oikawa and his whole house.

"Are you ever going to?"

Oikawa smirked softly, blinking a few times before looking at his serious boyfriend, giggling a bit and reaching out to grab his arm, squeezing to his side tightly. Iwaizumi didn't pull away, but he did look at Oikawa suspiciously.

"When the time is right," Oikawa sang out, starting to walk with Kuroo and Iwaizumi to direction of the Quidditch field. "And I feel like that time is coming real soon."

The only friendship that seemed to be more surprising to people than Akaashi and Nishinoya, was Asahi and Ushijima.

"And then...you _pat, pat, pat_ ," Asahi patted the soil down firmly, making sure the root of the plant was firmly in place, Ushijima standing above him and observing. "And there you go! You've replanted your flower."

Ushijima nodded, writing down the last of Asahi's tutorial of how to replant a tulip, closing his notebook and bowing slightly, Asahi bowing back and clapping happily. Ushijima had asked a lot of questions these past few days which Asahi was very enthusiastic about.

"Thank you, again," Asahi said, putting the potted tulip to the side and grabbing the watering can. "For taking care of my garden while I'm gone."

Asahi had quite a few requests when it came to taking care of his garden. He would've asked Daichi to do it, but Ushijima has been here quite often so he decided to take his chances, and it turned out that Ushijima was actually really good with growing and raising plants. He even talked to them like Asahi did to help them grow!

"Thank you for entrusting me," Ushijima another watering can, one that Asahi bought him from the muggle world over the summer as a gift, and started watering the plants like how Asahi taught him to.

"I have started my own garden over the summer. Tendou likes the vegetables especially, over the flowers." Asahi raised his eyebrows at this, surprised Ushijima would take such a hobby home, but was really happy.

"So how do you grow it at home?" Asahi asked curiously, knowing that Ushijima came from a pure blood family so he had the option of raising a lot of the plants he would have with magic, making them grow faster and bigger if he wanted to, which to Asahi took the fun out of it.

"Of course, the way Azumane-kun has taught me," Ushijima reassured him with a nod. "Because that is the best way the plants have grown."

Even though it was small, Asahi really appreciated the fact that Ushijima said 'the way Azumane-kun has taught me' and not just 'the muggle way'. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like he wasn't clumped with the other muggles.

Because Asahi wasn't a muggle - he was a wizard.

Not that there was anything wrong with being a wizard! No, of course not! But these days, he felt like people have been seeing all these muggle born children that were being sent away as muggles.  
But they weren't muggles. They were wizards with muggle parents.

"Azumane-kun," Ushijima called out softly, stopping his watering can and putting it down, staring at a dandelion that he's been growing. Asahi was thinking he should buy Ushijima some seeds over the summer of some of his favourite muggle plants and flowers, ones Ushijima wouldn't be able to find being sold in the wizarding world.

"Thank you for teaching me how to take care of my own garden."

The thanks took Asahi by surprise, opening his mouth to say something but Ushijima turned to face Asahi and bowed to him once again, lower this time, his hands folded in front of him.

"And I will miss you when you leave. Please take care of yourself, and expect a healthy garden when you return."

Asahi thought he was gonna cry at the sincerity in Ushijima's voice, walking over and patting Ushijima on the back firmly, holding in a sniffle. Of course he would expect a healthy garden he returned. He wouldn't have trusted anyone better for the job.

"Thank you, Azumane-san! You're doing great!" Yachi cheered as Asahi held his wand steady, putting up decorations for the Halloween party in the dining hall. A streamer was coming out of his wand, glittering black and orange and hanging itself on the edges of the ceiling, complimenting nicely on the charmed night sky that was on display right now.

"Yama-kun, thank you!" Yachi exclaimed as Yamaguchi came in with a bunch of pumpkins, levitating about 15 of them and holding 2 in his hands. Yachi took a few of them as Yamaguchi put the rest on the table. "Where did you get these again?""I can't remember. But they wouldn't stop running away from me.""The pumpkins or the owners?""Both!"

Hearing Yachi laughing, Yamaguchi telling people the story of how he went to the gamekeepers house to get these pumpkins but the gamekeeper insisted on taking all the pumpkins instead of the 15-20 that he needed, and everyone in the dining hall helping the mock set up of the Halloween party, Asahi for a moment forgot about the fact he was leaving in 2 days.

"Ao-Aone-san," Yachi timidly went up to Aone who was crocheting some coasters in black and orange, putting some cute spiders and ghosts on it right now for decoration. Yachi looked so scared to go up to him even though they were in the same house. "You-You're work looks cute! Ke-Keep up the good work!" Yachi put down a bottle of pumpkin juice for Aone before scurrying away, Aone, scrunched up his forehead before picking up the bottle and trying to open it. He sighed when the cap wasn't twisting.

"Here," Asahi took the bottle and opened it for Aone, giving him the opened bottle of pumpkin juice to drink. "Having a bad day?" Aone was quiet, but nodded shortly, glaring down at his crochet work.

"Futakuchi...he cursed me."

Asahi's jaw dropped, not believing that someone's boyfriend would do that to him. But then again, he was a Slytherin wasn't he, Futakuchi. And from what Asahi has heard from Nishinoya was that Slytherins sucked - except for Sugawara, who was a nice person and took care of Daichi.

"Cursed?""Yes, but only with minor inconveniences so that it will 'take me by surprise' and I'll remember him." Asahi almost laughed, but had to remind himself that this wasn't a laughing matter.

"So...you can't open bottles?""I can't open bottles or jars. I'll never remember what I've forgotten whenever I've forgotten something. My hot chocolate will always either be too hot or too cold. The staircases always change when I'm just about to get to my floor and now, whenever I get comfortable in bed all of a sudden I have to go to the bathroom." Aone sighed as he finished what might have been the longest sentence Asahi has heard him say in their 5 years of knowing each other. Asahi nodded, patting Aone's back in sympathy.

"Why don't you reverse it then? You can do that much, can't you?" Aone was still for a moment before shaking his head slowly, Asahi raising an eyebrow at him, waiting for an explanation.

"If I do that, then Futakuchi would get even more upset. And I don't want our last few days together this year with him getting more angry at me."

Asahi understood, but he didn't think this was the best way to go about it. However, when there was a knock on the dining room's grand doors, everyone looking to see Futakuchi with a huge teddy bear and bouquet of roses and an uptight, flustered, frustrated expression, maybe Asahi spoke a little too soon.

"Did you hear?" Yamaguchi asked, him and Asahi helping professor Takeda clean up the potions room before the next class, washing the cauldrons together which was a much easier task after learning the 'washing up spell' that Asahi's family used all the time.

"Apparently Tendou-san's getting sent away with us too."

Asahi's eyes went wide, gulping as he thought about Ushijima. He was pretty sure that Tendou was a pure blood, being in Slytherin and all the chances were high, but he guessed a few Slytherins were being sent away for suspicious behaviour. He wondered who else was getting sent away for reasons other than having muggle blood in them, like Yamaguchi and Tanaka.

"I'm kind of curious why," Yamaguchi whispered, even though there was no one else in the room except for Asahi and him. "There are rumours going around that he's been seen in jails multiple times, but his dad always bails him out. But these are rumours, so don't take my word for it!"

Asahi could see it, but he didn't know Tendou well except through the stories Ushijima told him. And it wasn't like Ushijima gushed about him or anything, his stories were always straight forward and concise, straight to the point even if they made Tendou look immature and frankly, a little bad.  
It probably wasn't Ushijima's intention in the first place, however, and Asahi felt that Ushijima really truly did love Tendou.

"Where did you hear this?""Sugawara-san and Daichi-san were talking about," Yamaguchi explained, surprising Asahi a little bit at his answer, expecting something else.

"You didn't hear it from Tsukishima-kun?"

Yamaguchi shifted a bit in his seat, shaking his head and laughing nervously. "Ah, no. Uhm, Tsuki doesn't really, you know, doesn't really talk to Tendou-san much, so how was he supposed to know, right?" Yaamaguchi laughed, scratching the back of his head, but Asahi had a feeling there was more to it than that. He didn't ask though, not wanting to pry.

"Anyway!" Yamaguchi cleared his throat, pretending to check on the dishes that were washing themselves. "How is Nishinoya-san taking the separation? He's getting better?"

Asahi had to admit, he rarely saw Nishinoya that week besides the interview and a few quick hallway kisses when they passed by each other. Nishinoya seemed to be busy doing something all the time, Asahi thought maybe it would be better to check on him before he left to make sure he wasn't getting into any trouble.

"I think he's okay," Asahi nodded slowly, believing in Nishinoya, trusting him - which is a big improvement from previous years. Asahi learned that trust in a relationship is very important.

"Of course I plane to spend time with him the day before we leave, but right now I'm sure Nishionya is keeping himself safe. He knows how I feel whenever he does something reckless."

"Nee-chan, nee-chan, nee-cha-a-a-a-an!!" Nishinoya screamed, holding onto the seatbelt wrapped around him, his eyes wide as the Whomping Willow started getting closer to them. Saeko laughed as she swerved the beat up, raggedy old car to the right, missing the tree and circling around the grounds of Hogwarts, pulling the gear shift and lifting the car up so they were flying. Saeko cheered, opening her window and letting the wind blow her hair back, sticking her arm out as they got closer to the clouds.

"You try, Yuu-kun!"

After pestering Tanaka over and over again, Tanaka finally called his sister who had graduated from Hogwarts just last year to bring the car over and let Nishinoya take it for a test run. Nishinoya didn't want to drive it right away, so Saeko told him she would do a demo for him just to watch and see what he should do. Nishinoya still didn't know how the 'car' worked, but he was having lots of fun in the sky with it.

And everyone knew, Tanaka's sister was always there to deliver, especially for her littler brother and his best friend.

"Having fun, Yuu-kun?"

It was terrifying, exhilarating, life-threatening and most importantly, so much fucking fun.

"Woohoo!" Nishinoya stuck his head out the window as they passed by a cloud, closing his eyes and screaming into the sky. A flock of birds passed by them, Nishinoya wanted to catch on and give it to Asahi as a gift before they left. Unfortunately, Nishinoya couldn't catch it with his hands and didn't trust himself to use his wand.

"Nee-chan, how did you do this?" They had to scream at each other since the wind was too loud in their ears. "Oh, you know!" Saeko screamed back. "Magic spells and Ryuu wanting a fun summer? What kind of sister would I be if I didn't come up with something?"

At times like these, Nishinoya wished he had siblings.

"Alright, Yuu-kun, I'm gonna land! You ready?"

Nishinoya went back in the car, Saeko lifting up his windows and putting her hand on the gear shift. She made a sharp turn to the left, turning the whole car around, Nishinoya's head banged against the window hard.

"Sorry," Saeko chuckled, but Nishinoya shook his head, just letting himself suck it up. He watched the scenery outside zooming past him, everything blurry. He was so tempted to open the window, but Saeko locked it before Nishinoya could even think about it.

"Alright..." Saeko moved the gear some more, lowering them, Nishinoya felt his stomach drop with them. She did it again, getting lower and lower until Nishinoya could see the school again, approaching quite fast.

Very fast. Too fast?

"Nee-chan?" Saeko's hand was off the gear, holding the steering wheel tightly with a wide grin, pushing forward. Nishinoya held onto his seat belt, gripping it tighter as Saeko pushed the peddle at the bottom where her feet was harder, zooming right into Hogwarts property. Nishinoya's life flashed before his eyes as the Whomping Willow's branches opened up, like it was ready to eat up the car and the people in it.

"Nee-chan?!""Don't worry, Yuu! Nee-chan's got this!"

Saeko swerved the steering wheel again to the left, so now they were sideways, flying in the air as they got closer to the ground, slowing down slightly. Nishinoya could hear the gears in the car working, seeing the smoke building up from the front of the car, which Nishinoya could only guess was not a good sign.   
Saeko laughed loudly as the car bounced onto the ground multiple times, stopping completely right in front of the Whomping Willow. When the tree lifted it's branch to hit the car, Saeko pushed the gas again, driving forward and out of reach from the hit, so the Whomping Willow barely missed them, but they could still feel the vibrations of what could have happened.

"Woo!" Saeko clapped her hands, turning to look at Nishinoya, grinning at him and slapping his back. "So. What'dya think?"

Nishinoya was so dizzy, but to be honest that was the most fun he's experienced in a while that he understood why Tanaka didn't bother waiting for Nishinoya to reply to his letters if this was what he would be missing out on.

"Thanks...nee-chan," Nishinoya gave Saeko a thumbs up as he opened the car door, forgetting to take his seatbelt off so Saeko had to help him out by pushing a button. The metal buckle of the seatbelt hit Nishinoya in the jaw, but he didn't really feel it as he stumbled out of the car.

"Nishinoya-san!"

Nishinoya's eyes widened when he saw the headmaster, waiting for him at the entrance, his arms crossed as he stared Nishinoya down with a disappointed look. Nishinoya gulped, his heart pounding even harder when he saw ministry of magic people behind the headmaster.  
Nishinoya just wanted to get himself in trouble, not Saeko.

"Nee-chan-""It's fine!" Saeko reassured him, waving her hand at Nishinoya. "Go, go. I can handle a few cops, ya know? Nee-chan doesn't need any help." Nishinoya nodded, looking back at the headmaster and wobbling over to him, his legs feeling like jello as he walked.

"Nishinoya-san, I can't believe you-""Am I suspended?" Nishinoya asked quickly, making both the headmaster and the ministry of magic authorities confused. It seemed that Nishinoya did have a goal with this, and an intention that not every student had thought of.

"What?""Am I suspended?" Nishinoya asked again, pointing to the car that Saeko charmed to fly after her and Tanaka found it in a muggle junk yard. "This is the reason Ryuu is going, isn't it?" Nishinoya stated, headmaster Akaashi sighing loudly, but Nishinoya pressed on.

"I deserve to go too now, don't I?"

Headmaster Akaashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. Nishinoya had to be the first person to do this, didn't he? There was no way anyone else had an idea like this, no way was Nishinoya the second or third person to do this.

He was sure that this was an original idea, no one else was trying to get suspended except for him. No one else was crazy enough for that.

"Yaku? Ravenclaw Yaku?!" Nishinoya groaned loudly, punching the wall in Asahi's room, denting it but he didn't care anymore. It wasn't like he was getting suspended for it anyway.

"And-""There's an 'and'?" Nishinoya eyes almost came out of their sockets, feeling like breaking something. He should've had this idea at the beginning of the week, but no, he just had to protest and hand out dumb pieces of paper that in the end didn't do anything and he had to get rid of right away. To this day, Asahi still had no idea that Nishinoya did that.

"And, uhm, Futakuchi-kun? The Slythe-""I know who he is." Nishinoya growled, hating how a Slythering beat him to it, banging his head on Asahi's bed mulitple times, not caring who came in. This was infuriating and Nishinoya wanted the whole school to know.

Headmaster Akaashi explained to Nishinoya that he was 'a little too late' and a few students had already gotten suspended for doing crazier things, which Nishinoya desperately wanted to ask about but he had other things to worry about, and headmaster Akaashi would be doing Nishinoya a favour by not pressing charges to Saeko and just taking her car away.  
Nishinoya gave out a begrudging 'thank you' between his teeth when Daichi was called down to collect him after the whole incident.

"This is-ah, what do I even-like- _pwah_! Ah, I can't even- _ngya_!" Nishinoya started punching a pillow, panting softly, not believing that on his last days with Asahi this was the result. Efforts gone to waste and an inevitable separation.

"Noya-kun," Asahi called out softly, standing up and going over to Nishinoya, taking his hand. "Look at me? Please?"

Even though Nishinoya was enjoying punching the pillow, he enjoyed looking at Asahi too. So with furrowed eyebrows, a huge frown and his eyes red around the sockets, Nishinoya whipped his head to look at Asahi, seeing what he wanted.

Nishinoya's heart melted when Asahi was smiling at him.

"Noya-kun, can we spend tonight together?" Asahi asked sweetly, pushing Nishinoya down on the bed gently before joining him on the bed and laying down beside him. "I'm getting jealous of my own bed because you're paying more attention to it than me."

Nishinoya knew what Asahi was doing. He knew that Asahi was trying to calm him down and trying to get his mind off the fact that Asahi was leaving in less than 48 hours, he knew that Asahi was trying to get him to stop thinking about all of this.

Damn Asahi. It was working.

"You took Divination this year, didn't you?" Asahi asked softly, wrapping his arm around Nishinoya's waist. Even though Nishinoya was still grumbling he turned to face Asahi, putting an arm around his neck, nodding in response.

"Do you think you'll be able to tell my future? I'd enjoy that very much.""I chose the class because apparently it's bullshit," Nishinoya muttered, bumping his head against Asahi's. "All you need to know about your future is that I'm there. That's enough, isn't it?"

Asahi smiled, nodding, leaning in to press a soft kiss against Nishinoya's lips, Nishinoya responding without hesitation, cupping Asahi's face and pulling him closer.

Even though Asahi would be leaving and even though they wouldn't see each other too much this year, Asahi would be coming back to Nishinoya, wasn't he? Even though Asahi would be spending time with other Gryffindors, even though Nishinoya would be spending time with pure bloods, he would be waiting for Asahi to come back, wouldn't he?

"It's more than enough," Asahi said as he pulled away from the kiss, glad Nishinoya's heart rate went down. "It's more than I can even imagine." 


	15. Interview VI

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Goshiki hissed as Tendou pushed the needle on the lobe of his ear, sadistically smiling as Goshiki whimpered, holding onto Semi's hand tightly till his knuckles turned white. "Tendou-san, wa-wait! I'm not ready!""You'll never be ready then," Tendou sang out, taking the needle off of Goshiki's ear and reaching to get a cube of ice.   
"Fine, fine, stop being such a baby. Here, I'll numb your ear for you again."

Everyone in the Slytherin house was watching, snickering as they saw Tendou tormenting poor Goshiki, offering to give Goshiki a piercing on his ear even though no one knew where Tendou was even going to get an earring from.

Almost no one was getting sent away from the Slytherin house except for Sugawara, and Sugawara was too busy partying with the Gryffindors about that that the Slytherins couldn't appreciate him (not like they would've anyway). Some of the Slytherins were under that 'suspicious' category, obviously, but that was maybe 10 of them? The whole Slytherin house was going to heavily populate Hogwarts, that was for sure.

The only other muggle born that was leaving from the house though, was Sem Eita. Half blood, and being sent away.

So the whole Slytherin house decided to celebrate in his honour, telling Semi that he will be dearly missed.

"Are-Are you sure you want ma-matching piercings, Ei-Eita-san?" Goshiki whimpered as Tendou lifted the needle up again, pointing it to Goshiki's ear. Tendou told Goshiki that for Semi's going away present, he should get a piercing on his ear, right where Semi had his 'done' over the summer so that they had something to remember each other by.  
Goshiki being the good junior he was, thought the idea was brilliant.

The thing was, Semi didn't have a piercing. Tendou left that part out though.

"Tendou-""Ah-ah-ah," Tendou chuckled, cutting Semi off before he could say anything, making Semi groan softly but he didn't bother correcting the statement anymore.   
Every since last year Tendou has been oddly social with everyone all of sudden, making 'friends' here and there and just overall making himself more known in the Slytherin house as a person who got along with the other members.

He was kind of satirical, a little bit creepy, but in the end a lot of people started liking Tendou too.

"Let's just-" Without warning Tendou punched in the needle, making Goshiki scream loudly, digging his nails into Semi's hand until it bled, thrashing his legs around, but Iwaizumi was there to hold him down.

"Calm down, calm down," Tendou said in a sickeningly sweet voice, leaving the need there for a bit before quickly taking it out, putting a tissue on it with ice. Goshiki's eyes were watering, holding onto Semi for dear life, but when Tendou patted him on the back and told him he did a good job, Goshiki's face lit up and all of a sudden the piercing wasn't that big of a deal.

"Well, you know," Goshiki shrugged, holding the napkin at his ear, puffing his chest out and acting proud. "If it's for a senior, then I don't mind. What you guys can do, I can handle it too!"

Tendou patted Goshiki's head, ruffling his bangs. Oikawa wondered if that's what people saw when him and Kageyama used to walk around together.

"Where did Tendou learn how to pierce like that?" Semi asked in disbelief as Tendou asked one of the girls in the Slytherin house for an earring to give to Goshiki, even putting it in for him and telling him how pretty it looked. Oikawa and Iwaizumi were watching, feeling a little bad when Goshiki started going off about how he believed he could make a spell to make the process easier for wizards who wanted piercings. Tendou nodded enthusiastically, even getting a textbook out for Goshiki, officially confusing the whole Slytherin house.

"Oh, we pierced Terushima's tongue over the summer."

Oikawa's nonchalant tone making Semi's eyes widen in fear, especially when Iwaizumi nodded in agreement. "Koutarou-kun was the one who taught us. But actually, wouldn't this be the first time Tendou has done a piercing on another person then? Since it was Kuroo who did it on Terushima." Iwaizumi nodded making Semi's terrified face even more distressed, nodding slowly because of how indifferent Iwaizumi and Oikawa seemed to look.

"Oh," Oikawa looked over at Semi. "Sorry we didn't invite you to my birthday party. Iwa-chan was the one who sent out the invites, you know?" Iwaizumi punched Oikawa on the back of his head, making Oikawa whine but laughed, turning around to kiss Iwaizumi but Iwaizumi stopped him, pushing his face away. Semi just watched, unsure what to do so he turned around and walked away.

"Quit telling people that I chose the guest list! You literally crossed off a bunch of people I wrote down yourself!" Oikawa pretended not to hear, trying to hug Iwaizumi but Iwaizumi slapped his arms away.

"Awe, don't get mad at me, Iwa-chan," Oikawa pouted, stretching his arms out and trying to reach for Iwaizumi but Iwaizumi just scowled at him, walking away only to have Oikawa follow him.

"So what if I crossed off a bunch of people? It's not like they would've been sad about it," Oikawa looked around the Slytherin common room, seeing who there was that Iwaizumi put on the list but didn't get an invite because of Oikawa.

"Kunimi-kun! Are you sad you weren't invited to my birthday party?"

Kunimi didn't even look up from the book he was reading. "Of course. Can't you see my tears running down my cheeks? I apologize," he stood up, looking over at Oikawa with a straight face. "I can't seem to contain my sadness."

Oikawa kissed his teeth at Kunimi's sarcasm, but Iwaizumi snickered, watching as Kunimi went up the stairs, probably wanting to get away from everywhere after the drama of piercing Goshiki's ear was finished.

"Semi-kun! Are you sad you weren't invited to my birthday party?" Semi looked over at Oikawa, cursing under his breath because he was pretty sure he was able to get away from him for a moment but it seemed like Oikawa just needed attention.  
Semi gave him a helpless shrug which made Oikawa gasp, looking over at Iwaizumi.

"Iwa-chan, you were right! We must have offended quite a few people!" Oikawa ran over to him, but Iwaizumi just rolled his eyes, moving out of the way and trying to get away but Oikawa managed to catch his arm. "Let's have another party then! Iwa-chan throws the best parties!"

For a few minutes their bickering didn't end, Iwaizumi hitting Oikawa's head over and over again while Oikawa giggled, trying to get a kiss out of him. They didn't notice Tsukishima coming between the two of them until the 4th year cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Uh, Iwaizumi-san, Oikawa-san," Tsukishima looked between the two of them, getting both their attention. "The headmaster said he wanted to see you. Both of you. Like, now."

Oikawa made sense, but Iwaizumi? Everyone's eyes were on them as they walked out. Tendou was the one who started coming up with conspiracy theories about their call down, convincing Goshiki he should tell his friends about them. Semi was proud to say he finally interjected and told Goshiki why that was not a good idea.

"I apologize for calling you down so suddenly," headmaster Akaashi bowed to both of them, two chairs set up in front of his desk for Iwaizumi and Oikawa. He motioned to the chairs, inviting both of them to sit down.

"But I felt like both of you needed to be here for this."

Iwaizumi could feel what the news was and he couldn't help but tense up everywhere. His fist clenched on his thigh, his shoulders were tightened together making his back ache and he couldn't stop sweating.

Why did Oikawa look so calm beside him?

"As you know, this transfer that is happening is not only considering muggle born students, but also suspicious students, suspended students-""We're not suspicious though," Oikawa cut him off, Iwaizumi had to kick him under the table to get him to shut up.

"Listen," headmaster Akaashi leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk and holding his chin with his hand and looked between the two of them. "What happened in your 1st year, I've been keeping quiet because there was no harm in what happened. We obliviated the students and the professors. We never discussed it before. I understand this is my fault."

Iwaizumi gulped hard, all three of them could hear it. Oikawa beside him was getting uncomfortable too, shifting in his seat, but his face was still confident and cocky, Iwaizumi sort of admired his front right now. In times like this, that cockiness must come in handy.

"I let you two be in the same house despite the Sorting Hat's decision. I disregarded how big this action was and now you both need to face a consequence." Iwaizumi stiffened, now thinking of different possibilities.

Him and Oikawa were being sent away together? That was better than just one of them being sent away, right? All of a sudden he was able to calm his mind, anxious for the rest of the news.

"I have tried to talk to the ministry many times. That is why I'm telling you so late into the week. However, unfortunately they did not want to take any risks this year, so we had to make this choice. I would like to request that you please understand why we're doing this and ask as many questions as needed."

They were both ready for it, sitting up straighter, firming their expressions and mentally preparing themselves. If they were being sent away together, then it was fine. If they were going to be together anyway, it was fine.

So why was headmaster Akaashi turning to Iwaizumi?

"I apologize, Iwaizumi-san," headmaster Akaashi stood up and bowed to him. 

"But this year, the ministry has decided to send you away."

In their 1st year, Iwaizumi was sorted into Ravenclaw, but for Oikawa changed to Slytherin. The headmaster was able to make the change happen in the first place, administering it and being lenient on them ever since then.

The headmaster, if they thought about it, did a lot for Oikawa and Iwaizumi. So they shouldn't be too hard on him for this.

"Excuse me?" Oikawa stood up in his seat, glaring down at the headmaster, it took Iwaizumi a bit to process, taking Oikawa's hand but Oikawa slapped it away. "Iwa-chan? What did he even do? It was _you_ who allowed Iwa-chan to change his stupid house that damn Sorting Hat decided to put him in! Iwa-chan had nothing to do with this!"

Oikawa had a point, but someone could argue if Oikawa wasn't a big baby about being separated from Iwaizumi in the first place then maybe this wouldn't have been happening.  
They could tell, the headmaster was trying to hold in that argument as well.

"I know. I am at fault for this as well and I apologi-""Can't you do something about this? Aren't you the _headmaster_? Don't you have authority for this?" Oikawa burst out, Iwaizumi was trying to pull him back down but it seem like Oikawa didn't feel that hard kicks on his shin. Oikawa was upset and perhaps triggered, but Iwaizumi wanted to give the headmaster the benefit of the doubt and hear his side of the story.

"I tried to fight for Iwaizumi-san to stay," the headmaster told them, making Oikawa quiet for a few minutes to let the him defend himself. "But it was a majority's decision that Iwaizumi-san's switch from houses should be labelled under suspicion despite me being the one who changed his position. Iwaizumi-san, I truly am sorry for this. I understand you do not deserve to be sent away, but I can assure you that the temporary school will be more than adequate for you."

Oikawa was turning red, balling his fists up before making a strange strangled noise that got Iwaizumi to snap out of his shock.

"Why can't you send _me_ then?"

This surprised both Iwaizumi and the headmaster, not expecting Oikawa to be the one to try and take Iwaizumi's place. Iwaizumi thought he would keep fighting for Iwaizumi's stay or even lash out at the headmaster that he should be doing his job properly.

Iwaizumi didn't think Oikawa would try and take his place.

"I'm the one who levitated a whole table around the room! I made the dining room go under chaos, I was the one who started it, I-""Oikawa," Iwaizumi grabbed his arm when he heard Oikawa's voice shaking. "It's fine."

Oikawa looked down at Iwaizumi, seeing him give a strong nod that only made Oikawa hiccup helplessly. This wasn't fair. Oikawa was the one who wanted Iwaizumi to switch houses, he remembered Iwaizumi was fine being in Ravenclaw, and sometimes might've enjoyed Ravenclaw much more than Slytherin.  
This was Oikawa's fault, but Iwaizumi was taking the hit.

"Headmaster Akaashi, please," Oikawa decided to take a different approach, bowing lowly, even Iwaizumi was getting shocked by his actions. "You can send me away, but please leave Iwa-chan here. It isn't fair to him."

Iwaizumi was both touched and disheartened as he watched Oikawa trying to fight back. It conflicted him, obviously, not wanting to be separated from Oikawa and not wanting it to be Oikawa the one who left.  
In all honesty, between the two of them Iwaizumi was probably the one who would be able to handle leaving, not Oikawa.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen," headmaster Akaashi's voice was low, also to seem disappointed by the outcome. "The decision is final. Iwaizumi-san will be leaving at the end of the week with everyone else."

Their walk back to the Slytherin tower was silent, both of them not being able to process fully what had just happened. Iwaizumi was being sent away in a few days and there was nothing they could do about it. There wasn't even enough time to try and come up with a proper argument, not to mention having to present it to either the headmaster or the ministry themselves.

" _You_."

Oikawa's hissing made Iwaizumi look up finally, and honestly he was about to just let him go if it weren't for him charging at Akaashi, the headmaster's son. And Iwaizumi would've pulled him back sooner, but there was a slight hesitation because if he were to be completely honest, Iwaizumi wasn't exactly happy with the Akaashi either right now.

"Oikawa-""Fucking nerve. Can't believe your whole family is considered a powerful wizarding bunch!" Oikawa growled, being held back by Iwaizumi. Akaashi looked down at the ground, his face not changing but Iwaizumi could tell that this wasn't the first time Akaashi hasn't been confronted randomly, and in an angry matter on top of it.

"Look at me! You can't even talk to your dad right, huh? I bet you knew all about this transfer and now you-" Oikawa stopped, his eyes widening at Akaashi, scoffing in disbelief.

"Your _mudblood_ boyfriend is probably staying here. Isn't he?"

Oikawa and Bokuto had become friends through a series of unfortunate events, but if he were to choose between Iwaizumi and Bokuto, there was no question. And in a rampage of frustration and anger, he didn't care what he called Bokuto at that point.

If Oikawa were to find out Bokuto was staying and not Iwaizumi, he would've lost it.

"Oikawa," Iwaizumi gritted his teeth, yanking him back. "Bokuto is your friend-""Not if his muggle blooded ass is staying here and you're not." Oikawa retorted back, looking back at Akaashi who was now looking up at the two of them, feeling both betrayed and annoyed, but he didn't yell back. Oikawa clearly was having a fit and Akaashi understood that, but to have his boyfriend being called a 'mudblood' - Iwaizumi could understand why he was offended.

"Listen here, Akaashi-""HEY!" Out of nowhere, a loud and familiar voice was raging from the other end of the hallway. All three of them had to turn to see Nishinoya standing there, holding his wand out and pointing it at Oikawa, making Oikawa groan, not in the mood to deal with this right now.

"Let's just go," Iwaizumi tried pulling Oikawa, but Oikawa stayed put, waiting for Nishinoya to charge him. 

"You leave Akaashi alone!" Nishinoya yelled, running to Oikawa and targetting Oikawa's neck, glaring up at him, Oikawa also took his wand out, pointing it at Nishinoya's chest.

"Nishinoya-"  
"Oikawa!"

But Oikawa and Nishinoya were facing each other off, their wands targeted already, not caring if they would get suspended or in trouble - that increased chances of being sent away, wouldn't it?

" _Everte Statum!_ "

Nishinoya was the first to attack Oikawa, Oikawa being thrown back against the wall, making him groan and fall down seconds later. Iwaizumi tried to interject, but Oikawa held his hand up, not wanting Iwaizumi to get involved.

If Nishinoya wanted to fight, then fine. He wasn't going to lose to some Gryffindor.

" _Alarte Ascendare!_ " Oikawa attacked back with a loud cry, the spell causing Nishinoya to launch up in the air, gasping in shock, but he quickly took advantage of the height and held onto one of the torches on the ceiling, having a higher ground to attack Oikawa with.

" _Bombarda!_ " Nishinoya aimed his wand right in front of Oikawa, a small explosion happening right before his feet, but Nishinoya was safe on the ceiling. The explosion made Oikawa stumble back, falling to the ground, coughing with all the smoke that came from the explosion.   
Iwaizumi and Akaashi also stumbled back, but they weren't as fast as Oikawa who was standing up again, pointing his wand up at Nishinoya.

"What's wrong? Can't face me on the ground?" Oikawa growled, glaring up at Nishinoya. "Feeling nice being tall for once? Is that it?"

Nishinoya narrowed his eyes before jumping down from the ceiling, Akaashi almost caught him but Nishinoya landed on his feet. 

"You have something to say, pretty boy?" Nishinoya strained his neck to look up at Oikawa while Oikawa leaned down to look at Nishinoya in the eye. "Is pretty boy even suppose to be an insult?"

Nishinoya threw his hands up, reaching for Oikawa's neck but Akaashi was quick to catch him, dropping Nishinoya's wand from his hand and holding him back. Oikawa was held back by Iwaizumi, also dropping his wand and trying to charge at Nishinoya.

"You're giving Akaashi shit, aren't you? For something his _dad_ is doing, not him!"  
"His dad could do what he wanted! He's just choosing not to because it's the easiest option!"

Even though Akaashi wanted to let go of Nishinoya, he didn't. Iwaizumi and him made eye contact, agreeing to hold them back and stopping what could have potentially been the next huge destruction of the school, following up last year's doings which didn't end prettily either.

"Come on, Oikawa," Iwaizumi grunted, pulling Oikawa back harshly and hitting the back of his head for good measure. "Just leave them alone."

Akaashi did the same thing, pulling Nishinoya away. "It's fine, Nishinoya.""It shouldn't be! Let me at 'im, I'll finish him off just fine!" 

Iwaizumi and Akaashi both were successful in pulling them to opposite sides of the hallway at least, leaving their wands there and telling them they would just get them later.

Some wizards didn't even need their wands though. And those were the ones that needed to be feared the most.

"I'm gonna tell him. I'm gonna burst soon if I don't tell him! Agh, he's such a _dick_!" Oikawa was pacing back and forth in him and Iwaizumi's dorm, Iwaizumi having to pack now that he was a victim of the transfer too. Despite begging and telling Iwaizumi that he would be able to find some new arguments to convince the ministry and the board that Iwaizumi should be staying, Iwaizumi has made peace with it and decided it was better to cooperate from now. He'll send a letter to his parents and tell them if they could do something about it, then it would be nice, but Iwaizumi didn't want to make it a big deal.

Besides, how bad could the new school be anyway?

"You shouldn't use it as blackmail," Iwaizumi warned Oikawa, folding his shirts nicely and stacking them on each other before putting it in his luggage. "That won't prove anything. Also, you should've just told him sooner. I feel like you think you have all this power, but if you tell him when he's already mad at you it's going to go to waste. He'll just get even more irritated with you."

Last year, Nishinoya produced a strong patronus, saving Bokuto, Akaashi _and_ Oikawa. It drained Nishinoya so much he fainted and Oikawa was the one who carried him all the way back to Hogwarts.

What Nishinoya did not know was that during the roughly 24-36 hours of being unconscious, it was Oikawa who took care of him. He changed Nishinoya to clean clothes, washed him down, made sure he had water and a little bit of food in his system and even took the liberty of leaving him chocolate so he could recover properly.

Not Kuroo. Not Bokuto. Not Akaashi. Not even Asahi, who wasn't told about Nishinoya's return right away because everyone agreed it would've been too overwhelming for him that Nishinoya passed out.

Oikawa. Oikawa took care of him and to this day he hasn't gotten a proper thank you and he was fine leaving it that way.

But Nishinoya has been so fucking moody lately and taking it out on Slytherins was about to give Oikawa a stroke if the fact Iwaizumi was leaving him in less than 2 days wasn't occupying his mind as well.

"No, leave that for me!" Oikawa groaned, yanking one of Iwaizumi's sweaters from his luggage and throwing it on his bed. "I want at least one of them!"

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow at Oikawa, crossing his arms and huffing softly. "I thought you didn't want me to leave?" This earned a glare from Oikawa, scoffing as he turned his head away, glaring at the wall even though he knew the wall didn't do anything.

Things were not going his way, and even though Oikawa was kind of used to it, this had to be the worst luck yet.

"If Iwa-chan won't complain then I won't either!"

Oikawa had been like this lately, and although Iwaizumi appreciated the attempt at maturity, if Oikawa was with Iwaizumi then he was always acting like a child. But for some reason, when Iwaizumi left him alone then Oikawa grew up to his normal age and acted less spoiled.

Weird, right?

"Take this one," Iwaizumi whipped a sweater at Oikawa hard, making Oikawa flinch but he caught it, raising an eyebrow at Iwaizumi when he saw it. It was just a regular sweater with the name 'Iwaizumi' sewn into the sleeve. Without looking up, Iwaizumi took the other sweater Oikawa tried to take.

"You're bigger than me. This one will fit you better."

Oikawa's lip quivered, throwing his arms around Iwaizumi for the hundredth or so that day. This time, Iwaizumi didn't push him away.

"Costume? Like for plays and stuff?"

Oikawa was talking to Bokuto and Kuroo again when he found out that the both of them were leaving too. Since Iwaizumi was behind on the transfer papers, he was spending the morning in the headmaster's office to fill them out. He also had a chance to talk to his parents, so basically it was just a meeting about Iwaizumi and why he was leaving.

"I guess. But it's more for fun than anything else," Kuroo explained. The three of them were in the dining hall, Oikawa sitting with them even though he had more people to sit with in the Slytherin house because of Iwaizumi telling him he needed to make more friends than him.

Oikawa wouldn't say it out loud, but he liked Kuroo and Bokuto better than quite a few Slytherins.

"Like you put a white sheet on you and you're a ghost!" Oikawa furrowed his eyebrows at Bokuto. "But...ghosts don't look like that."

There were several ghosts in Hogwarts, of course, most of them just messing around with the students in the hallways. A lot of them had cool stories, but most of them were sad too so Oikawa never talked to them.

Peeves was his least favourite, always wanting to play jokes on the students and roaming around just to mess with people. He remembered in his 1st year Peeves thought it would be funny to tell Oikawa that jumping out the window would be a faster way to get to the Quidditch field, and though he wasn't wrong, Oikawa was in the hospital wing for a good 4 days straight.

"Or like," Kuroo tried thinking of a better example. "Wearing a dress and a tiara and calling yourself a princess. That's a costume." Oikawa nodded his head slowly, feeling like he got the idea much more. 

With Halloween coming up and these whole promotions going around, especially since it was the one day that Oikawa and Iwaizumi knew they were going to see each other during the year (Oikawa would find other ways to see him) Oikawa had a lot of questions about what a 'muggle' Halloween was. Apparently, it was quite different from a wizard one.

"Kids do this thing," Bokuto went on explaining. "'Trick-or-treating'. Where they knock on people's doors with a bucket and go 'trick-or-treat'! Then they get free candy! It's awesome." Oikawa thought it was weird, taking candy so easily from a stranger, but he guessed that if it's what muggles did then it didn't seem all that bad.

Even though Oikawa still thought muggles were really strange, uneducated people as well.

"Don't lie, you trick-or-treated last fucking year," Kuroo hissed, hitting Bokuto on the back of the head, but Bokuto whined back at him, hitting the side of Kuroo's head. "That's stupid! I spent my Halloween with Akaashi. How am I suppose to trick-or-treat while I'm here at Hogwarts?""So you're saying you would've if you could've?""Well...it _is_ free candy."

Oikawa sometimes asked about muggle life when something didn't make sense to him, but the more questions he asked the more questions came out.

Like electricity. What was that about? They had to make things in order to have something work? What was wrong with a fire for light? He guessed that since muggles couldn't control fires or make the dishes do themselves, perhaps they did have to make inventions that could accommodate to that. 

Or their cameras. Still photos that Kuroo was giving out lately, didn't move and just stared back at you the whole time. Oikawa liked watching the photos move, and even though he really liked the scrapbook Kuroo gave him for his birthday, Oikawa felt like it would've been much better if there was also photos of Iwaizumi flying, zooming across the field, or sleeping under a tree and watching the wind blow his shirt up.

Perhaps their explanations about things? Kuroo introduced Oikawa to this thing muggles called 'science' and by his observation, it was the dumbest thing they've invented so far.  
So many numbers and letters and equations, so many parts and words and questions unanswered - couldn't some things in life just be left unexplained?

"The Whomping Willow is being out of bounds this year during Halloween," Oikawa heard Bokuto mention, but his words were muffled with the amount of meat in his mouth. "The Lunar Eclipse. Ah, but I wanted to see it! The sky would've looked so pretty!""Just look here," Kuroo told Bokuto, pointing up at the ceiling of the dining room. "It'll be the exact same."

Oikawa didn't care about Halloween all that much, but now that Kuroo and Bokuto were talking about it, Oikawa realized something.

If the Whomping Willow was closed off on Halloween, that meant there wouldn't be any students there, right? Since the people being sent away would probably be excited about coming back there would be a flood of students going around and about the school, most likely trying to reunite with friends or boyfriends and girlfriends.   
This huge party would just be a huge cockblock if Oikawa couldn't find a place for them to be alone.

And a Lunar Eclipse? It was the perfect night! No one would want to go out to some scary, big ass tree that had the power to murder people.

"It's different when you actually see it though," Bokuto protested, getting Oikawa's attention again. This time, Oikawa shook his head, agreeing with Kuroo that going out during Halloween would be a bad idea.

"A Lunar Eclipse is just a dark sky," Oikawa shrugged. "Nothing that exciting."

It wasn't until Iwaizumi strongly disagreed to Oikawa's idea of meeting at the Whomping Willow on Halloween did Oikawa realize that maybe a Lunar Eclipse was actually not that exciting.

"But the school'll be flooded! We won't have any time alone!" Oikawa insisted, Iwaizumi sighing loudly and looking up at Oikawa, shaking his head once more, though he was pretty sure he's done this a thousand times by now.

"Trust me, it's a bad idea-""How?" Iwaizumi gave him a look of disbelief, throwing his pillow at Oikawa. The two were alone in their dorm, Tendou and Sugawara probably haven snuck out to see their boyfriends, and Semi was probably off somewhere too.   
Perks of having your boyfriend in the same house as you.

"Tree that uses it's big ass branches to punch you? Halloween? Dark as shit outside?" Iwaizumi's voice raised with every point. "You don't hear how insane that is?""Exactly! No one else is going to do it then!"

Iwaizumi sighed even louder, Oikawa whining in protest, not understanding why Iwaizumi was so against the idea. Well, he understood, but he thought Iwaizumi would've at least considered it.

"So your logic is that since no one else is going to do it then we should?" Oikawa nodded enthusiastically making Iwaizumi groan and roll his eyes, turning around in his bed. Oikawa whined, throwing a pillow at Iwaizumi making him grunt, but he didn't turn back around.

"Mean! Iwa-chan is so mean! You're leaving me in a day and this is how you treat me-""If I agree then would you just shut the fuck up already?"

Oikawa's squeal of excitement was enough to make Iwaizumi's heart be at peace. Even though it was a terrible idea, probably no one was going to benefit from it, it was something Oikawa wanted to do.

So Iwaizumi would do it.

"Can I sleep with you tonight, Iwa-chan?"

There was no verbal response, but Iwaizumi started shuffling in his bed, leaving a big space beside him. Oikawa giggled, getting up and scooting onto Iwaizumi's bed, laying down beside him and spooning him from behind. Iwaizumi scowled but didn't push him away.

"Didn't know you liked being the little spoon, Iwa-chan-""Oh for fucks sakes." Iwaizumi turned around, now facing Oikawa properly, thinking that Oikawa would've turned around too. But he didn't.

They were facing each other, Iwaizumi's arm instinctively going around Oikawa's waist, so now they were holding each other. It was dark in their room, Oikawa could feel Iwaizumi's neck heating up, but both of them stayed right where they were.

Oikawa initiated the kiss first, going in and pressing his lips on Iwaizumi's. For a second there was no response, Oikawa planning on pulling away, but suddenly Iwaizumi's other hand was Oikawa's jaw, pulling him closer. The kiss slowly intensified, Oikawa opening his mouth and Iwaizumi following, letting each other in and tasting what they would be missing for the next few months.

"Did you change your toothpaste?" Oikawa asked in the kiss, Iwaizumi not being able to hold in a small chuckle. "Yeah, why?""It tastes like peppermint," Oikawa commented. Iwaizumi wasn't sure if he should've hit Oikawa, but this time he just pecked the corner of his mouth.

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa whispered softly, and Iwaizumi responded by squeezing Oikawa's side. "Remember when we were kids? And I told you we would get married when we were older?" Iwaizumi groaned softly, pulling away and trying to turn around, but Oikawa stopped him, holding him tighter.

"Come on, I'm being serious."

Iwaizumi was stubborn, but he did finally turn around properly again, facing Oikawa and seeing how his expression was in fact serious, but nothing dejected or troubled - he was being genuine.

"Yes, I remember. You would make that stupid ring with the dandelion-""They were _not_ stupid. Auntie thought they were cute," Oikawa pouted, referring to Iwaizumi's mom and how she would enjoy it when Oikawa made little trinkets or gifts for Iwaizumi back when they were kids.  
Iwaizumi hasn't told Oikawa, but whatever he could keep, he's been keeping until now. So even though the flower rings were long gone, cards or crafts, Iwaizumi still had them if Oikawa made them for him.

"I have a request though," Oikawa went on, leaning forward so that his forehead was pressed against Iwaizumi. "Ah, you look funny like this-""Just get on with it you dumbass!" Iwaizumi hit Oikawa in the stomach lightly, just wanting to hear what Oikawa wanted to say already. Oikawa choked a bit but he nodded, leaning back and instead putting a hand on Iwaizumi's cheek, caressing his face softly as he looked at him.

"In the future, whenever you want to," Oikawa cleared his throat when Iwaizumi furrowed his eyebrows at him. What was Oikawa trying to say now that he looked more hesitant and nervous?

"Whenever Iwa-chan wants to," he emphasized, and Iwaizumi was a step closer from pushing Oikawa off the bed.

"Can you be the one asking me to marry you?"

The request definitely took Iwaizumi by surprise, not expecting it to be so sincere, like Oikawa has been thinking about it for a long time. Watching Oikawa fiddling nervously with the edge of Iwaizumi's sleeve, looking down at Iwaizumi's chest and clenching his jaw, Iwaizumi decided not to bully him about it. Maybe in the future, but not right now.

"Okay," the response obviously got Oikawa excited, throwing both arms around Iwaizumi's neck and pulling him in for a hug, even their legs got intertwined together and made Iwaizumi struggle to breath.

"On one condition!" Iwaizumi quickly spat out, making Oikawa loosen his grip and look down at Iwaizumi. "Anything! I can handle anything if it's for Iwa-chan, I promise!"  
The determination was admirable, but Iwaizumi wanted to make sure Oikawa knew he didn't have to do _anything_ for Iwaizumi. But that was a lesson for another day.

"I'll ask you to marry me, but I'll only ask if you say yes."


	16. Interview VII

"Okay, so I get one phone call a week? And an allowance of 3 Galleons a week? Alright," Sugawara was writing down the extra points of what would happen with the transfer, even though the headmaster had offered to just give Sugawara a breakdown sheet of it. Sugawara insisted he preferred to write it down on his own in his little notebook, saying he would be able to process it better if he wrote it down.

"Will I be able to have free time on the weekends? To visit people, for example?" The headmaster hesitated before answering. "It would depend on the people who are running the new school. But I will say expect a no. The point of this school is to keep muggle born students protected." Sugawara pouted, but he nodded as he wrote down what headmaster Akaashi said.

"Will anyone be allowed to visit me?" Headmaster Akaashi gave the same response, explaining how he had a rough idea about the new school, considering that there would be another 'headmaster' (but headmaster Akaashi used the word 'principle' instead) and therefore new rules that maybe headmaster Akaashi himself didn't agree on.   
It didn't give Sugawara a lot to work with, but he guessed it was better than nothing.

"And this new school is in....Tokyo," he crossed the question off. "There's no description of it yet. Same curriculum...professors joining us..." Sugawara crossed off more things off of the list, headmaster Akaashi waiting patiently before Sugawara and feeling satisfied with the interview.

"Is there really no way for me to meet up with people at Hogwarts?" Sugawara asked a bit desperately, putting his notebook down on his lap. He's brought this up a few times during the interview, but headmaster Akaashi gave him the similar answer of 'the point of the separation is to dilute magic presence, therefore to have meetups in between would defeat the purpose of the separation'.   
It didn't hurt to ask again though.

"Maybe ask the professors when you get there. I'm just saying to not get your hopes up."

Sugawara nodded understandingly, standing up from his chair and bowing to the headmaster. His interview didn't last too long, maybe around 30 minutes, and it wasn't too problematic since he had his questions written down before hand.

"Thank you, headmaster Akaashi," Sugawara smiled at him, maybe one of the few students who did after one of these interviews. It wasn't news that everyone was still shocked about this division, and everyone had strong feelings about it.

"Oh no, Sugawara-san. Thank _you_ ," headmaster Akaashi chuckled. When Sugawara raised an eyebrow, confused as to why headmaster Akaashi was thanking him, he gave a soft smile and a small bow back.

"For coming to this interview alone."

Daichi was waiting outside the headmaster's office, expecting Sugawara to take as long as he needed in order to clarify things before the transfer. They agreed they wouldn't make a huge deal out of it considering the ministry was the ones who were administering this and headmaster Akaashi was just doing his job by obliging and following orders.

Besides, the ministry was doing this to keep the students safe. Right?

"It's worst than I expected, but," Sugawara started saying as he stepped out of the office, reading out the notebook to Daichi about the different rules and expectations with the transfer, but based on the 'expectations', it seemed that headmaster Akaashi knew just as much as they did.

"At least we still have Halloween?"

Daichi sighed, looking over the notebook as well, Sugawara having written down the questions both of them had for the headmaster and leaving a space underneath for the answer.  
The answers were looking a little blank, however, and Daichi felt a little discouraged about it.

"I mean," Daichi cleared his throat, the two of them having started to walk down the hallway already. Classes for Daichi would be starting soon, and even though he had a perfect attendance so far he didn't mind being a little bit late if it meant he and Sugawara could spend a little bit of time together.

"I could sneak...out?"

Sugawara's eyebrows rose, a small smirk forming as he linked his arm with Daichi, feeling a strange sense of pride in him when it was Daichi who suggested it. That meant Sugawara has been rubbing off on Daichi lately, being influenced in ways Sugawara thought weren't likely back when the first met even. But it seemed that even someone like Daichi had their limits.

And if Daichi wanted to 'impress' Sugawara, then it made it even more cuter.

"Eh, could you even?" Sugawara scoffed, making Daichi blush, probably feeling silly for making such a suggestion, but Sugawara reassured him with a soft kiss on the cheek that all of Sugawara's teasing was out of love. Daichi looked down at him, feeling his face heat up, but he managed a small smile, tapping Sugawara's forehead lightly.

"It's not my fault I'm going to miss you." 

It really wasn't. It was no one's fault, no one at Hogwarts anyway. Was it the ministry's fault? Perhaps. But one could argue that if muggles weren't so greedy and cold and selfish, then they wouldn't have to even consider separating in the first place. Sugawara knew that not all muggles were like this of course, but he supposed he could understand where the ministry's mindset was coming from, and it seemed like almost all the muggle born students had the same understanding. 

"Sa-Sawamura-san!"

A group of giggling Gryffindors and a few Hufflepuffs were walking down the hallway. A Hufflepuff girl was at the front, a piece of paper in her hand that looked a lot like a letter was in her hands.  
Sugawara could guess what was coming next.

"Ah-uh, wh-what I wanted to-to ask-" the poor Hufflepuff girl stuttered with nervousness, both Daichi and her stopping in front of each other. Sugawara let go of Daichi's arm, always interested to watch these because he always loved watching the expression on some of these girl's faces when they got their response. It was an expression Sugawara couldn't get anywhere else.

"Please accept this!"

The girl - short hair, maybe up to Daichi's chest and cheeks the colour of Daichi's tie - pushed the letter towards Daichi, then Sugawara noticing that there was also a heart sticker on the corner of the envelope.  
How cute.

"Be-Before I leave! I wanted to just-just give you this!"

Sugawara actually felt a little bit of sympathy this time, realizing she must have been leaving with Sugawara at the end of the week (which wasn't too far from now already) and probably mustered up a lot of courage to give her confession now. Confessing was always tough - oh, but Sugawara never found it difficult of course. He didn't care, it was either go for it or you were never going to get it, right?

Good for this girl though. Even though she would get rejected, Sugawara would've patted her on the back if the confession wasn't for Daichi.

"Oh, thank you," Daichi said slowly, but he didn't take the letter. Sugawara could recite what would happen next, and if Sugawara was next to him then he would take Sugawara's hand, intertwine their fingers and say,

"But I'm sorry I have to reject you. I already have someone I love," Daichi would smile sweetly, then bow at her, leaving her (and her friends if she had any) shocked. "I appreciate your courage to confess. I hope you find someone who will accept your love wholeheartedly." Then Daichi would bow to her before moving to the side with Sugawara and walking off.

Sugawara was used to it at this point. Daichi was obviously a catch - a leader, athletic, smart and Sugawara was proud to say, so fucking hot - so he couldn't blame girls when they thought they could get away with confessing and expecting at least a little consideration.

And he certainly couldn't blame them when they didn't know just how committed Daichi was to Sugawara.

"I can walk you to the Slytherin tower," Daichi insisted, trying to walk in the direction Sugawara would be going, but Sugawara shook his head, playing the push and pull game.   
"No, no, go to class. You're already late," Sugawara pressed on, trying to push Daichi to the other direction, but Daichi shook his head, going right back to Sugawara. "I just wanna make sure you get there safely."

Sugawara didn't understand what Daichi meant every time he said that, but it always made Sugawara's heart flutter just a little bit, feeling like he should just become the vulnerable, soft boyfriend Daichi thought he was.

How many times did Sugawara have to suck Daichi off to prove that he wasn't as innocent as he seemed?

"Fine," Sugawara chuckled, holding Daichi's hand, leaning up to kiss Daichi's jaw, making Daichi's neck go pink. Sugawara would have to remember to make a few more hickies on his neck before he left, and make sure to make them extra dark so it'll take weeks for them to fade. 

"But don't blame me when you end up skipping class altogether."  
"Why would I be skipping class?"

Sugawara smirked as pulled Daichi to the Slytherin tower, not listening to Daichi's questions as he pulled him for a deep kiss, grabbing Daichi's thigh hard. How many times would Sugawara have to do _this_ before Daichi realized Sugawara wasn't as fragile as he looked?

"Look! A wild SugaSuga has appeared!"

Sugawara only mildly regretted introducing Tendou to Pokemon, not expecting him to be so obsessed with it, but he supposed it was better than him making fun of Sugawara for liking such stories.

"Did you do your interview yet?" Sugawara asked, getting Tendou's mood down right away, sitting in front of Sugawara and sulking. Tendou got the news that he would be transferring too not even 24 hours ago, and even though they would have each other, Tendou was not excited nor was he mentally prepared. It was already suspicious enough that Tendou had to skip a week of class every month - what more at this new school when he had to sneak out in the middle of the night every full moon?

"No. It's tomorrow," Tendou grumbled, deflating in front of Sugawara, resting his chin on the table. They were eating lunch in the dining room, Sugawara staying with his house today since Tendou was eating with him. Daichi and him couldn't be with each other all the time, could they?

"Teach me all the muggle slang!" Tendou exclaimed suddenly, making Sugawara confused, raising an eyebrow at him. "What?""Muggle slang! Lingo? I need to blend in with you guys or else I'm really gonna get exposed." Tendou whispered the last part, leaning into Sugawara. 

Tendou's parents, apparently, wrote Tendou off as a half blood, but until now Tendou thought they were telling people Tendou was a pure blood. So it stirred up quite a bit of confusion for Tendou when he was given a bunch of forms and telling him he needed to be done packing by the end of the week. Tendou has been asking Sugawara odd questions about muggles ever since then.

"I mean...we talk just like you guys." Tendou didn't look that impressed with the answer. "Oh."

Sugawara lived his life as a muggle during the summer time and the vacations when he was allowed to go back home. But at the end of the day, he was a wizard. A wizard that could do magic and cast spells and make potions and fly on a broom. He was a wizard that knew the currencies, could look into a crystal ball (he rarely saw anything though, and so did the majority of the students), had a wand and even took home magical candy every year to show his parents.  
Now everyone was just looking at him like a muggle.

The thing was, Sugawara didn't even notice.

Being a full muggle born in the Slytherin house, Sugawara got a lot of shit for it anyway. So being ignored and discriminated against, Sugawara wasn't that hurt - he was quite numb to the slurs by now.

"Owl Post!" One of the students cried out when the windows of the dining room opened, a flock of owls flying in, all with different things in their claws. Some had packages, most of them letters, and all of them were dropping to their respective recipient.

"I tried asking my mom to take me out of school this year," Tendou grumbled, glaring up at every owl. "I swear, if she sends me a list on how to self regulate-" at that moment Tendou's family owl dropped a letter, the envelope having Tendou's family seal on the corner. He ripped the letter open, Sugawara watching intensely, flinching when Tendou screamed and started ripping the letter into pieces.

"She wants me sent to Azkaban! Ugh, my mom is-" Tendou controlled himself, quickly lighting the letter on fire so no one else could read it.

From what Sugawara knew, Tendou's mom was actually very nice lady. Apparently though, since Tendou was getting older she believed Tendou should be handling situations on his own now, which was fair.  
Still, maybe in times like this she should've been more lenient.

"Hey everyone!" One of the Slytherins yelled from the table, getting everyone's attention. "Futakuchi's got a Howler!"

Now everyone was really looking, their eyes on Futakuchi as they all noticed the bright red envelope in front of him. Even Futakuchi himself was hesitant, his cool demeanour evaporating.  
Howlers were never good news, and even worse when you didn't open them.

"Ahh, these are always embarrassing," Tendou giggled, Sugawara giving him a weird look as Tendou watched Futakuchi excitedly from their end of the table. They could see clearly, Futakuchi hesitating as he touched the corner of the letter. That was all it needed for it to be opened, flying up in the air, the opening of the letter making a mouth shape.

"FUTAKUCHI KENJI!!"

The voice boomed through the dining hall, Futakuchi tensing up at the voice of what seemed to be his mom. Futakuchi was a pure blood, but people said he purposefully got suspended so he could leave at the end of the week with the other muggle born students and be filed under the 'suspended/suspicious' category. Everyone knew though, he only did that to stay with Aone.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU," her voice was so loud, Sugawara could feel the room vibrating. "IF YOU WANT TO COME HOME YOU BETTER FIX YOURSELF UP. I SWEAR TO GOD, THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'M BEING LENIENT WITH YOU, YOUNG MAN. YOU HAVE NO REASON FOR DOING WHAT YOU DID! TAKING YOUR FATHER'S WAND? CONJURING UP A LEGILIMENCY SPELL AGAINST YOUR PROFESSORS! I JUST _KNOW_ YOU WOULD HAVE GONE FOR YOUR HEADMASTER IF THEY DIDN'T CATCH YOU IN TIME. YOUNG MAN, YOU ARE _SO_ IN FOR IT WHEN YOUR FATHER COMES BACK FROM TRANSYLVANIA, I SWEAR. THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE GETTING AWAY WITH IT THIS TIME! YOU HEAR ME, KENJI? THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST DID. YOU HEAR?"

Futakuchi grumbled something under his breath, crossing his arms. "I SAID DID YOU HEAR ME?" Futakuchi flinched, sitting up straight. "Yes ma'am." The Howler didn't even look impressed as it ripped itself up, Futakuchi letting out a breath of relief as it was over. No one found it 'funny', but some of the Slytherins around him were snickering, watching as the ripped up pieces of paper started to burn. Futakuchi went on with his lunch as if nothing happened.

"A legilimency spell?""I know right," Tendou nodded, quite impressed as he looked back at Sugawara. "Futakuchi really had to think of something bad. I'm surprised he wasn't expelled."

Legilimens was a spell that could allow you to intrude someone's thoughts and memories, even their emotions. It wasn't the worst spell you could do, but it was obviously intrusive and very rude when done without consent.

"Who do you think he used it on?" Tendou hummed, thinking, finally taking the time to actual eat instead of sulking about this transfer. "Well, I know for a fact he used it in his 3rd year before. For Aone-kun." Sugawara was not that surprised.

"But other than that...""He used it on the Divination professor," Oikawa and Iwaizumi, walking towards them and taking a seat next to Tendou. Even they have been a lot nicer to Sugawara lately - well, Iwaizumi was always nice to Sugawara, but Oikawa hasn't been calling him 'mudblood' these days which was a major improvement.

"The Divination professor, the Herbology professor, the Astronomy professor," Oikawa shrugged, also taking some food, Iwaizumi already eating beside him. "I heard he was just trying to do enough to get suspended. He wasn't actually going to go for the headmaster."

Tendou's eyes widened, and Sugawara's mouth dropped. All to get suspended so he could leave with Aone? Aone must've been a good boyfriend if Futakuchi was willing to risk it all.  
Or maybe this would make Futakuchi the good boyfriend. But Sugawara wouldn't want or expect Daichi to do such a thing either!

"I wonder what he saw," Tendou's eyes twinkled, taking out his wand, but Sugawara made him put it away. "Oh, come on! It's not like it's gonna hurt anyone!" Tendou insisted, but he did put his wand away. "I just wanna know what people are thinking sometimes, you know? Imagine what I could do with Waka-chan..."

Sugawara has learned about Legilimency spells and why exactly they weren't good for anyone. Not only was it disrespectful and very invasive, but it was also addicting. To know what people were thinking and feeling all the time, it did come in handy even if it seemed harmless. Sugawara sometimes wished he used it on Daichi, especially before they started dating.  
He was glad to say he didn't actually put that plan into action, however.

"Suga," Kuroo and Bokuto came to their table, also greeting Iwaizumi and Oikawa, and even Tendou. They were all the same age, they supposed getting along wouldn't hurt.

"I got it," Kuroo whispered to Sugawara. At first Sugawara was a bit confused, not remembering right away, but when Kuroo showed a brown package, Sugawara's eyes widened and he nodded, shaking Kuroo's arm excitedly.

"Yes! Thank you so much, Kuroo!" Sugawara smiled, but Kuroo's smirk made his heart unsettled. "Nah, don't worry about it," Kuroo waved his hand. Behind him, Oikawa and Bokuto were already arguing about something stupid, Oikawa taking his cape off and Bokuto doing the same. Should they be addressing that? Iwaizumi didn't look like he cared.

"You'll do something for me in the future. I know it."

Sugawara didn't like the Gryffindor tower more than the Slytherin one, but he liked the people that occupied it way more, that was for sure.

"Okay, so..." Sugawara was looking through the DVDs Kuroo sneaked in for Sugawara, wanting to watch a few movies with Daichi before they left. Like a little date for the two of them. Sugawara wasn't sure why he didn't remember to take Daichi to a movie theatre over the summer, but he was glad that he was able to get something for them to watch.

"I got the snacks!" Bokuto and Kuroo bursted in the room with arms filled with packages of food. 

So it wasn't a _real_ date.

Kuroo agreed to get the movies into Hogwarts on the condition that they were allowed to watch them with Sugawara and Daichi. Even though Sugawara wasn't the biggest fan of it, he guessed they _were_ Kuroo's DVDs, so it was only fair.

"Ah, the Gryffindor tower is so bright. So much red," Tendou and Ushijima came in after them, Tendou holding a green pillow for some reason, even though there were perfectly good pillows in the Gryffindor tower. "Waka-chan you should've brought your pillow. We could've matched!""Blue and green are not complimentary colours." Ushijima stated, walking into the room and awkwardly trying to find a place to sit. Tendou didn't even hesitate flopping down onto a random bed.

"Oi, be careful!" Kuroo hissed at Tendou, but didn't make him get off. "That's not our bed. Sit on that one," Kuroo pointed to his bed, but everyone else was sitting on the floor. Ushijima hesitantly sat on the floor beside Tendou, crossing his legs, Sugawara wasn't sure he saw Ushijima in such a state. It was kind of weird.

"Did you choose a movie?" Kuroo asked, Sugawara shaking head as he flipped through the cases. "I'm stuck between 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Cinderella'.""Cinderella!" Bokuto shouted, laying down on his stomach on the ground beside Kuroo, a pillow under his chest as he was already snacking on Every Flavour jellybeans. "I'm not in the mood for false mermaids.""Hey, I like The Little Mermaid," Sugawara protested, already taking it out just to spite Bokuto. "The songs are better here too."

"Did someone call a party or what?" Oikawa bursted in the room, Iwazumi behind him, the two of them not bringing anything except themselves. Sugawara's eyes widened, not expecting them to show up as well, but it seemed like they got invited by one of the people already in the room.

"I invited Iwaizumi," Kuroo threw a pillow at Oikawa, but Oikawa just caught it. "Wherever Iwa-chan goes, I go!" Oikawa giggled, going over and sitting on one of the beds, not asking whose was it, but it was Bokuto's anyway so Bokuto didn't mind. "What's happening again? We're watching a play?""A movie, dumbass."

So, not Sugawara's ideal date. He gave an apologetic smile to Daichi and Daichi smiled back, shaking his head and letting Sugawara know it was alright. Perhaps the evening wouldn't be too bad after all.

"Mermaids aren't like that!" Oikawa yelled at the projection of the movie, a mouthful of Corn Puffs that Bokuto _accio_ 'ed at the beginning of the movie. "They don't even have hair! I think...""Yeah, those are sirens," Terushima - who joined right when the movie started - confirmed with Oikawa. "Brutal ass bitches, I swear. Tried to kiss one and she almost drowned me. It was worth it though."

They chose The Little Mermaid after Kuroo told everyone what the movies were about. Ushijima's vote was the tie breaker when he explained that he wanted to see how exactly 'the muggle world depicts the imagery of mermaids and it's affect on society'. Tendou's crazy scary glare to the rest of the group was extra measure that they should go with what Ushijima wanted.

"I like her voice," Tendou nodded his head as the first song the Little Mermaid sang started, trying to hum the melody but everyone shushed him. "So much feeling. I wish I understood English."

There were subtitles, but since the DVD was being projected on the wall with the wand they were a bit blurred out. Kuroo's wand was on the edge of the DVD as it spun around, Sugawara's wand on the other end and reflecting the image of the movie. The two came up with the spell during a talk about which Disney move was their favourite, discussing how cool it would be to have a wizard DVD player now that DVDs were becoming a thing in the muggle world.

"You're lucky," Sugawara whispered to Kuroo. "I only have these on VHS. DVDs look so much better.""Don't worry about it," Kuroo shook his head, stuffing a bunch of Corn Puffs in his mouth. "Kenma bought them for me. I don't think he realized how expensive they were and I don't think he cared. Perks of having a rich boyfriend. You just gotta know what to ask for."

Sugawara was still unsure about Daichi's status, finding it rude to just ask someone if they were poor or rich, but seeing how Daichi was a pure blood he wouldn't have been surprised if he was. He had two siblings, so that meant there house had to be at least 4 rooms big, right?

"You enjoying the movie?" Sugawara whispered to Daichi, putting a hand on Daichi's thigh. Daichi nodded, smiling over at Sugawara and kissing his forehead. "Yeah. I like Ariel," Daichi whispered, pointing to the mermaid as she swam around singing. Sugawara had watched these movies so many times that he knew what was going to happen next, so he didn't have to look at the projection that much. But Daichi seemed invested in the movie.

"More than me?" Sugawara tested, which he shouldn't have done because Daichi was looking at Sugawara, shaking his head and putting his arms around Sugawara's waist, pulling him closer. Sugawara liked it when Daichi got worked up. It was like watching a puppy looking for a ball that wasn't thrown - just plain adorable.

"I will always love Suga the most," Daichi whispered, kissing the back of Sugawara's ear, making Sugawara blush but he didn't move away. "Really?""Of course." Sugawara giggled, turning his head to give Daichi a kiss back on the corner of his mouth. A pillow suddenly struck the back of Sugawara's head, making them both flinch, Kuroo innocently putting the pillow down and pretending to watch the movie.

"Fucker," Sugawara gave Kuroo the finger before looking back at Daichi, running a hand through his hair. "Just jealous his boyfriend isn' there.""Shut up!" Oikawa hissed at the two of them, not taking his eyes off the movie. "I know I can't understand anything they're saying, but I need to feel the movie!"

Sugawara rolled his eyes while Daichi apologized. The two stayed snuggled up however, enjoying the movie in each other's arms.

"Oh come on Ariel, don't be such a bitch!"

Surprisingly it was Iwaizumi who commented first, along with the agreements of some of the other people in the room. It was the part of the movie when Ariel started to follow the two eels to Ursula's lair even though Sebastian warned him not to (Sebastian was her dad's talking crab).

"Do you think there's actually a King Triton?" Bokuto asked quietly, but everyone could hear him. "Like, in the ocean. Do you think King Triton exists?""Why don't you go in the Atlantic ocean and take a look?" Oikawa retorted satirically, making Tendou and Sugawara snicker, but Bokuto glared at the back of his head. "Shut up! I'm just asking!"  
"If there was a King Triton that means that there's also an Ariel, right?" Terushima added with a smile, but no one seemed amused by the comment. Perhaps because Terushima was the only single one in the room.

"Don't make me your impotent, Tooru-kun!" Bokuto yelled confidently, but everyone turned their heads to look at Bokuto. "Your what?" Bokuto looked back at everyone, opening his mouth then closing it. He had to think for a bit before nodding his head slowly. "Impotent? Impotent...am I using that word right?""What are you trying to say?" Kuroo asked, but Bokuto didn't respond for a few minutes, so the others started watching the movie again.

"Impotent...you know, going against someone?" Bokuto tried again, but everyone's focus was on Ursula's solo. "Wah, she has a good voice too! I like this song," Tendou whispered excitedly, Ushijima nodding in agreement.

"Impotent...Impotent..." Bokuto kept mumbling, no one paying attention to him anymore. He looked a little lost, deciding to watch the movie again seeing how it was the good part, deciding to forget about the word.

"Waka-chan, if I lost my voice would you still love me?"  
"Don't you think he'd love you even more if you could stop talking?" Tendou hit Terushima on the back of his head hard, making Terushima wince but started laughing at the reaction.

"Waka-chan!" Tendou whined, but Ushijima of course took the time to coax Tendou and reassure him that he would love Tendou no matter what. This was a side of Ushijima that Sugawara hasn't seen before, and he definitely was interested to know more.

"Wait, but prince Eric saw Ariel, right? How come he doesn't recognize her?" Daichi asked, everyone being able to just talk freely now that the movie was getting to it's plot and approaching climax.

"He was coming out of unconsciousness. He probably only remembers her voice.""That's dumb," Iwaizumi scoffed at Kuroo's explanation, shaking his head as they continued watching the movie.

Sugawara had to admit, he was enjoying this. Even though it was originally supposed to be a date, just Sugawara and Daichi, he enjoyed having friends around as well. Oikawa ended up sitting between Iwaizumi legs, Iwaizumi's arms around his waist and chin on Oikawa's shoulder. Ushijima was on the bed with Tendou after Tendou's constant pestering about how he wanted to cuddle. They weren't cuddling, but they were lying down next to each other.  
Terushima somehow ended up lying his head down on Bokuto's lap and his feet on Kuroo's, none of them complaining.

"Ah, Asahi. We should've invited him, right?""Noya-kun would've wanted to join and he can't sit down through something like this," Daichi explained to Sugawara, nodding his head in understanding and not feeling that bad about not inviting Asahi anymore.

Hanging out like this though, with everyone. Sugawara was realizing just how much he would actually miss Hogwarts this year.

"Fucking-Ariel!" Oikawa screamed at the screen, throwing his popcorn at the projection on the wall. "Ariel, why can't you just-ah! Listen to your fucking dad already."  
"It kinda reminds me of when Daichi-kun came to the muggle world," Sugawara giggled, watching Ariel being confused with the human world, not understanding how a lot of things worked. Kuroo, Bokuto and Terushima laughed, but the rest of them were equally as confused as Daichi.

" _Under the sea~. Under the sea~"_ Tendou sang under his breath, Oikawa quickly telling him to shut up, but it only made Tendou sing louder. Bokuto had to throw a pillow at Tendou to at least get him to be quiet.

"Opponent!" Bokuto yelled, snapping his fingers in remembrance. "Don't make me your _opponent_ , Tooru-kun! I meant to say opponent." Kuroo face palmed hard and Tendou couldn't stop laughing.

Sugawara would like to think he would only miss Daichi, but he couldn't help but realize that he would be missing everyone.

"Sugawara-san!" Hinata called out from across the hall, waving a piece of parchment around as he ran towards Sugawara, moving through the other students successfully. "Sugawara-san! Wait up!" Sugawara did wait, standing in the hallway and waiting for Hinata to catch up to him. It didn't take long, Hinata basically flew up to him.

"Thank you for helping me with the forms. Here, look! They got approved!" Hinata started a habit of showing Sugawara his tests whenever he passed (which rarely happened, unfortunately) so he supposed when the forms for the transfer got a checkmark, Hinata took it as a 'passing grade'. Hinata was leaving too, Sugawara knew. Daichi asked Sugawara to take care of him.

"Good job," Sugawara chuckled, ruffling Hinata's hair and walking with him in the hallway. The muggle born students didn't have classes so that meant Hinata was probably wandering the hallway looking for Sugawara the whole time. The least Sugawara could do was keep Hinata company.

"You all packed?""Yeah..." Hinata sighed, his usual cheery self being weird by saddening itself. But Sugawara could understand that this transfer was making everyone a little depressed.

"It's not the end of the world," Sugawara reassured him, patting Hinata on the back as the walked, Sugawara planning to drop him off at the Gryffindor tower so he decided to turn his direction. "It's only for a school year. Besides, you still have Halloween and the holidays, don't you?" Hinata nodded slowly, but even Sugawara knew that those few dates weren't enough, even for him.

"Kageyama...he has a lot of girls that like him," Sugawara's eyebrows widened as Hinata started expressing concerns, just the day before they were about to leave. Whether Hinata has told Kageyama these concerns too, he wasn't sure.

"Oh? Is that what you're worried about?" Hinata gave a short nod, looking at the ground as they walked. Sugawara found it kind of cute, how innocent the love between Kageyama and Hinata still was, but it seemed they were approaching some more 'adult' problems and Sugawara was the person Hinata was coming to for advice. Maybe because they were leaving with each other, or maybe because Sugawara was making time for him more and more the more Sugawara got along with the Gryffindors.

"Daichi-kun is like that too," Sugawara grinned, Hinata finally looking up with wide eyes. "I know! I've seen him reject so many confessions!""RIght?" Sugawara laughed, being reminded of just how many confessions Daichi has rejected till now. "It's incredible, huh? And I trust that Daichi-kun will keep rejecting them no matter how many girls confess to him."

After meeting Kageyama and actually talking to him, Sugawara was slightly confused as to why he was so popular. Because he was athletic? Or maybe his quiet, cool personality?  
Whatever it was, Sugawara did notice just how many girls a week would confess to Kageyama - and how many poor girls would end up running away crying.

"You just have to remember that trust and communication is important in these situations. You also have to take these kinds of concerns to Kageyama or else it'll just bottle up inside you. You two fight a lot, so it shouldn't be that difficult, but also remember that he might understand when you say 'jealous', so use smaller words. Like, hm, maybe you can say something like 'I don't like it when...' and I'm sure he'll get the message. And don't forget to-" It took Sugawara a few minutes to realize Hinata wasn't beside him anymore.

"Hinata?" He turned around in the hallway, trying to find bright orange hair, which shouldn't be hard to find but Sugawara couldn't seem to see him. "Hinata? Hinata!" Sugawara called out, walking around the hallway, quickening his pace when he _really_ couldn't find him.

"Hinata! Hinata, where are you?" Sugawara called out louder, sighing as he raced around the hallway. He couldn't have gone far, right? He was right beside Sugawara when they were talking.  
But then again, Hinata was quick and could run around the whole Hogwarts tower in less than 10 minutes if he tried hard enough (him and Kageyama have raced so many times, Sugawara was sure both of them could).

"Hinata! Hinata? Hinata, say something back-""Oof," Sugawara's eyes widened, looking down to see Ravenclaw, 5th year Kenma bumped into him and Hinata beside him. "Hinata! You should've said something before you took off.""Oh, but I saw Kenma. Look, he has a cat!" Sugawara looked down and in Kenma's arms was a black cat, a bushy tail and a weird smirk on it's face that looked oddly familiar.

"Oh...I see," Sugawara nodded, Hinata going back beside Hinata and waving off to Kenma. "Bye Kenma! I'll make sure to see you before I leave tomorrow.""Please do. I'll be there before you leave." Kenma waved as well, then took the paw of the cat and making him wave too. Sugawara couldn't stop staring at the cat, but he also waved, turning around and walking with Hinata until they reached the Gryffindor tower.

"I'm not excited for tomorrow," Hinata mumbled, waving to Sugawara before he went up the steps. "Don't worry, Hinata!" Sugawara smiled widely at him, making Hinata turn around, waiting for Sugawara to finish the rest of his words of encouragement. Sugawara put his fists up in the air like he was cheering, his bright smile not leaving his face.

"I'd rather do it together than alone, right? We'll all have each other through this. So don't worry!"

That night, like every night this past week, Daichi and Sugawara met each other somewhere. This time they met in the Astronomy tower right after it got closed off, moving over the desks to the side and putting a blanket in the middle. They closed up the roof so now it was a regular ceiling before Sugawara took out one of the DVDs Kuroo snuck in.

" _Circumrota_." Daichi used his wand to spin the DVD then Sugawara used his wand to use the spell him and Kuroo made up together just for this specifically. " _Projecto_." The movie beamed out of Sugawara's wand, projecting out, Sugawara made it point to the ceiling. The two of them laid down, watching the big picture of Cinderella playing, hand in hand.

"You're really leaving," Daichi whispered, Cinderella just having everything taken away from her. Sugawara nodded slowly, sighing softly. "Yeah. I guess I am." They haven't really talked about it, telling each other that it wasn't that big of a deal, but now that the date was closer than ever, it felt more real.  
And none of them liked that.

"Remember, Bokuto only likes to eat meat. Kuroo will tell him to eat vegetables but he won't if Kuroo tells him to. You have to tell him to." Sugawara nodded as he watched Cinderella waking up, telling her bird and mouse friends about her dream, and how she wasn't suppose to tell anyone or else it won't come true. Sugawara was wondering if that was true.

"Hinata won't do his homework right away, but if he doesn't do it right after class is over he'll never do it. So you have to force him to sit still or else it'll never get done." Sugawara nodded, Cinderella now getting dressed by her birds, taking a bath and doing her chores right after. Sugawara kind of admired her ability to do it all without complaining.

"Asahi might be very uptight during the whole thing. Maybe you could calm him down before it happens? Oh yeah, Tanaka is leaving too, isn't he? Ah, you really have to keep an eye out for him. He might throw a fuss, especially if it's in an actual muggle school. He'll do something, I _know_ he'll do something-""Daichi-kun," Sugawara smiled sweetly at him, turning his head.

"Can you just watch the movie please? I have everything under control."

Daichi let out a breathy chuckle, nodding his head slowly and not taking his eyes off of the movie. "Sorry, what was this movie about again?" Sugawara groaned softly, turning and putting an arm around Daichi's waist, pulling him closer.

"You're hopeless."

Sugawara pulled him in for a kiss, getting aggressive from the start and opening his mouth, forcing Daichi to open his as he gripped Daichi's hair, humming softly in the kiss. Daichi reacted nicely, moaning in response and putting a hand on Sugawara's thigh and pulling him closer. He's come a long way from shy kisses, that was for sure.

"Su-Suga-" Sugawara ignored him, moving his kisses to Daichi's jaw, licking down to his neck and starting with the first hickey, biting down hard that it made Daichi gasp and wail out, tightening his grip on Sugawara. Sugawara quickly soothed the bite, licking on top of it and kissing the mark as he pulled away and saw his hickey, already turning a dark redish purple.

"Suga, what if someone comes in?"

Sugawara raised an eyebrow at Daichi, grabbing his face for another kiss, quickly silencing him as he started tugging at the bottom of Daichi's sweater, wanting to get it off right now. Their last night together and they weren't going to fuck? Sugawara didn't know why the snuck out in the first place.

"What _if_ someone comes in?"

Daichi gulped, letting Sugawara know he won.

Sugawara was going to miss a lot of things at Hogwarts this year, but one thing he wished he wouldn't have to leave at all was Daichi. But as long as Daichi was waiting for him when he got back, it wouldn't be all bad, right?


	17. Interview VIII

"I'm pretty sure I'm a pure blood. I mean, I think I'd know. Unless my parents are lying to me! Then I'll have a long talk with them when I go home at the end of the school year, but other than that headmaster, I think I'm going to have to leave you with nothing more. It was nice talking to you, but I should really get going-" the headmaster put down a piece of paper on the desk, a document Tendou was all too familiar with.

It was like a birth certificate, except Tendou's for some reason wasn't like the ones in the wizarding world that he remembered his mom used when enrolling him in different daycares and primary schools before going to Hogwarts. Tendou also remembered it saying that he was a pure blood. Fully wizard, not one ounce of muggle in him.  
Because there _was_ no muggle in him. But there wasn't full wizard blood either.

"Even if you are a pure blood, Tendou-san, you would be under the 'suspicious' category right about now." Tendou cursed softly taking his documentation and reading through it. His birthday, his name, his height his weight - but he noticed his age hasn't been updated yet. As far as he knew, the wizarding documentations of wizard citizens automatically changed when something changed. So if Tendou were to gain exactly .75 pounds right then and there, this document would've magically changed he number.

But if Tendou's birthday was a year behind, that meant this was just a regular piece of paper.

"Tendou-san, I won't ask too many questions because it won't be my place," headmaster Akaashi started off, but Tendou could feel the next words, bracing himself for anything the headmaster threw at him. "But maybe you should straighten out some things with your family? I'm afraid I'm still going to have to send you away."

Tendou took a deep breath, holding onto the piece of paper and looking down at it. Even the photo of Tendou, printed on there in black and white, he could tell it was a different type of ink wizards used.

"But headmaster-""The more you deny it the more questions I'll ask and the more I'll discover. The more I discover..." the headmaster let Tendou finish the blank, probably knowing that Tendou didn't even want to hear the rest.

Him leaving was worse than him being out and about during a full moon, in his opinion. Going to a new place like this, spending time away from a comfortable home - being away from Ushijima! - Tendou wasn't sure what to expect. Coming to Hogwarts, Tendou knew what to expect, his dad warned him and gave him instructions, things he should be doing so he would never get caught.

Tendou's parents haven't even written to him yet.

"Headmaster," Tendou sighed softly, putting his document down and looking up, finally, his expression calming but his heart still racing. "Can I borrow your fireplace please?"

" _Mom_."

Tendou has been screeching at headmaster Akaashi's fireplace for almost 15 minutes now, trying to keep his voice low yet at the same time not wanting to burn his whole face off. His mom's outline was through the fire and it seemed she was cooking something. Tendou has been trying to get her to stop so she could focus on him, but she didn't seem too bothered by the news.

"This is a good opportunity for you, Satori-chan, don't you think? You'll learn how to handle these situations on your own." Tendou groaned, rubbing his face with his palms and digging them into his eyes until he saw fireworks. Right now was not the time for a life lesson from his mom and he was really getting annoyed now that she had admitted she got a letter from the school about the transfer.

"Can I talk to dad? Please?""Your dad's at work, hun," his mom reminded him, making Tendou hold in another frustrated moan. "Does he know about the transfer?""He should. I left the letter on his desk." That didn't answer Tendou's question.

Tendou could barely handle full moons with Ushijima nowadays. He's been getting more wild, more feral, and now Ushijima had to make him twice the Wolfsbane so that he wouldn't transform during the day accidentally. The full moon for September was almost over, so he would be okay for the first few weeks of the school year, but once October hit he wasn't sure what he was going to do.

"Mom, please-""Satori-chan, don't worry so much about it, alright? Your dad was doing fine on his own when he was 15. You'll be okay." Tendou didn't want to remind his mom that he almost got arrested and wouldn't have if his mom wasn't there to bust his ass out of court.

"But I'm not dad," Tendou tried to explain. This whole time his dad has been helping him with this werewolf stuff, giving him rules to follow like not to go out in the middle of the night even if it wasn't a full moon, or to be careful around muggles because they liked to ask a lot of questions that they didn't need the answer to but asked anyway.

"I know you can handle it baby, okay?" His mom cooed at him making Tendou groan louder, not needing a pep talk or babying right now. He needed to get out of this or else he was actually going to get caught, not those 'oh shit' get caught either. More like 'oh _shit_ ' get caught.

"Mama, please," Tendou whined, throwing his arms around, but his mom just held her hand up, finally putting her pan down, but she put her hands on her waist, looking at Tendou. Her figure was made of fire, which should've made it more scary but Tendou took after his mom in terms of human looks. They had the same red hair, hers was long and straight, just like how his dad liked it.   
Tendou didn't have time to admire his mom though. He was trying to stay at Hogwarts.

"I don't think I can handle it."

Tendou's mom sighed, tapping her chin as she observed her son, seeing him get closer to the fire. sweat dripping down his forehead. Tendou held his breath as his mom dropped her hands, giving Tendou a sympathetic smile.

"I really think this is a good chance for you to learn independence, Satori-chan. You'll never know until you try."

Out of frustrated, Tendou pointed his wand and yelled ' _Aguamenti!_ ', water bursting out of his wand, taking the fire out and ending the talk with his mom on his own terms.  
At this rate, Tendou was basically getting ready to buy the first ticket to Azkaban.

" _On my way to meet with that person's mama~  
_ _I hopped on the train alone~  
_ _Watching twilight fall upon the town~  
_ _And many trains and cars drive by~"_

"Is Tendou..." Iwaizumi stared at Tendou, listening to his singing as he changed into his uniform robes. It was early in the morning, the five of the people in their dorm all getting ready for the day, the only person missing Oikawa since he was still in the shower. Sugawara looked at Tendou as well, biting his lip in worry after he just heard the news.

"Is Tendou...okay?" Sugawara sighed softly, watching as Tendou put his shirt on backwards. "I hope so."

" _By now that person should be aware~  
_ _Of the message in rouge in the bathroom~  
_ _Unless he quits being unfaithful to his love~  
I won't be coming home~"_

Sugawara went over to Tendou, putting a hand on his back making Tendou stop singing for a bit and look at Sugawara. "Your shirt is on backwards." Tendou looked down, his eyes widening but all he did was turn his shirt around, not saying a word. He hasn't packed anything yet even though Sugawara has reminded him multiple times they were leaving in a few days.

"Tendou, you alright?" Iwaizumi ended up asking louder, not being able to take the weird atmosphere in the room anymore. Tendou nodded, giving a forced smile and a thumbs up, but that just convinced Iwaizumi even more that he wasn't.

" _Nothing but my heart remains uneasy~  
The town fades away in the distance with a ding-dong~  
Tomorrow morning you'll receive a phone call~  
To get an earful from your momma, my darling~!"_

"What's wrong with him?" Semi whispered over to Iwaizumi, watching as Tendou began walking around his bed, still singing under his breath, Sugawara joining the two of them to watch him. Sugawara and Semi recognized the song from a popular movie in Japan, but Iwaizumi was still stuck with the lyrics, trying to figure out what he was singing about.

"Did...Did Tendou get cheated on?" Iwaizumi asked in slight shock, but Sugawara just shook his head. The only person that Tendou could get 'cheated on' by would never, first of all. And second, Sugawara wasn't even sure Tendou knew what he was singing about either.

"I think Tendou," Sugawara said slowly, "got betrayed."

 _"I bet that person is confused~  
_ _About the message in rouge in the bathroom~  
_ _I wonder if he's asking all his friends~  
_ _Where I've gone off to~"_

Oikawa walked into their dorms, a towel on his wet hair, glaring at Tendou as he stomped over to the group of Iwaizumi, Sugawara and Semi who were still observing Tendou. Oikawa huffed, crossing his arms as he joined them.

"He's been singing that stupid song all morning! I don't even think it's a real song!" Sugawara didn't bother correcting him and neither did Semi, deciding that their main concern right now was Tendou and how he was singing nonsense while pacing around his bed.

" _Nothing but my heart remains uneasy~  
The town fades away in the distance with a ding-dong~  
Tomorrow morning, you'll receive a phone call~  
To get an earful from your momma, my darling~"_

"I think," Sugawara was the first to say it, flinching when Tendou tripped over his own feet, catching himself quickly, but then restarted the song and singing from the top. Semi, Iwaizumi, Oikawa and Sugawara were all looking at him, Tendou pretending like nothing happened, fiddling with his fingers as his singing got slightly louder, not even noticing the 4 pairs of eyes on him.

"Tendou sings when he's stressed."

Ushijima enjoyed Tendou's singing. He sang fairly often, especially when it was just the two of them, and he noticed Tendou liked singing love songs around Ushijima. He wasn't sure what would trigger Tendou to start singing, usually having it happen at odd times, sometimes under his breath, sometimes loud and proud, but for the most part Tendou would sing when he was happy or excited.

Though lately, Tendou's singing has been sounding strained.

" _Hey, hey, hey, how is my age~?  
In terms of love I'm old~_"

"Tendou, that is too much water," Ushijima said softly, taking the watering can from Tendou as he watched the soil overflowing with water. Tendou offered an apologetic smile, giving the watering can back to Ushijima. Since Tendou didn't have class anymore, he's been hanging around Asahi and Ushijima's garden, offering to help and watch the plants.  
Ushijima at first thought it was a good idea.

"Are you perhaps thinking of something other than the flowers?" Ushijima tried asking, still unsure if he was reading emotions correctly yet, but ever since dating Tendou it seemed that he has been able to tell from excited to happy, the difference between sad and upset. Tendou usually made it obvious, but right now Ushijima wasn't too sure.

"You're so calm, Waka-chan," Tendou chuckled, turning to kiss Ushijima. "You're not even going to miss me?" Ushijima might have realized a little too late that Tendou was asking a rhetorical question, one that shouldn't have been answered. But Ushijima answered anyway.

"If the ministry is sending you to go then I believe you should go."

It was for Tendou's safety, wasn't it? Of course Ushijima was going to miss Tendou, and of course he would worry about Tendou during his full moons and if he would be drinking Wolfsbane.

But the Ministry of Magic was literally the authority of all wizards and witches and creatures of all kinds in magic. How could he not trust them?

" _My heart is one~  
My feelings are one~  
He's really my only one love~"_

Ushijima watched Tendou looked back at the flowers, leaning down and singing to them. Ushijima told Tendou how Asahi explained how talking to flowers made them grow healthier. So naturally, Tendou asked if he could just sing to them because it would have the 'same effect'. Ushijima didn't see the problem with it, and decided that both him and his garden could enjoy Tendou's voice together.

" _Tears are coming out~  
How is my age~?  
The perfect age for love~"_

Ushijima recognized the song as an old classic, a song maybe his grandparents used to sing. "Tendou-"

" _One day I'm going to accidentally look in the mirror~  
_ _Seeing my reflection for what it is~  
_ _I'll tell time to slow down~  
_ _How is my age~?"_

Ushijima gulped, feeling like he said something wrong but he wasn't quite sure what he said. Tendou these days obviously has been worked up about the whole transfer, telling Ushijima he didn't know if he could do it and instead of fighting the ministry, or any authority for that matter including the headmaster, Ushijima told Tendou that for now he should believe that he could do it. 

Sugawara would be there and Sugawara had proved he could handle Tendou during a full moon. Even if it might be a little difficult and even though Tendou has greatly expressed how much he would rather have Ushijima there with him, Tendou would have to face days without Ushijima there anyway, wouldn't he? So perhaps it at least one week of the full moon with someone else wouldn't hurt.

"I will miss Tendou very much. So much that I will think about Tendou constantly."

Tendou finally looked up at Ushijima, his eyes watering. He wasn't sure if it was because Tendou would miss him too, or if it was because he was so stressed about what would happen to him.  
Either way, Ushijima reached down to wipe Tendou's cheek where a tear might have fallen if Ushijima hadn't calmed him down.

" _I'm at the perfect age for love~_ "

Full moons were a bitch. Disgusting, tiring, bloody and a goddamn waste of a perfect night Tendou could spend with Ushijima.

Alas, he experienced them for one week every month and had no other choice but to go through them. And each time they were equally as exhausting and terrifying, Tendou not knowing where he would end up in the morning and honestly, always counted himself lucky when he was in Ushijima's arms.

Maybe it was after Tendou's most recent birthday, or just a little after that, but his full moons have been exceptionally wild recently and if he were to be honest it was more scary than he anticipated for. Something new though was that he was able to remember a few things the morning after. He could remember what he killed, what he smelled and where he was.

But he still couldn't control how much he killed, or where he went.

"Shit-" Tendou grunted as he changed back into a human, dropping to the ground and panting softly. Everything was blurry, the sun already having started to come out, but it was still cold when you're naked outside.

His shivering didn't stop when Ushijima put a blanket over Tendou, picking him up and carrying him bridal style, a routine him and Tendou did every full moon and Tendou never got tired of it.

If only Tendou wasn't covered in blood, maybe this would've been more romantic.

"A fox...no, two foxes," Tendou groaned softly, wiping the blood off his hands on the towel so he could touch Ushijima, but there was too much and some of it was already on Ushijima's clothes so he decided to just contain himself for now.   
"And...Maybe a bear? Are there bears in the Forbidden Forest?"

Tendou was reciting everything he was sure he killed in the time being a werewolf, wanting Ushijima to see that he could remember now, and also wanting to get it off his conscious about all the creatures he killed. All the blood on his mouth should have also indicated what he did with the dead animals, but Ushijima never commented on it.

"And I think...a bird? Like, a pigeon or some shit, I don't know," Tendou let out a loud breath as he hit his head on Ushijima's shoulder, feeling like he was going to pass out soon. Full moons were so draining, and Tendou always took a huge amount of Wolfsbane during this time of month, so that definitely took a lot of energy out of him.  
All to be normal and perfect in society's eyes.

"Tendou should rest," Ushijima said in a low voice as he carried Tendou to the prefect's bathroom, one that wasn't used often and remained fairly clean. Ushijima already had water ready, only needing to warm it up which he did easily with a spell. He placed Tendou slowly into the bathtub, of course taking away the blanket, then started washing the blood off.

"How do you do this every time, Waka-chan?" Tendou laughed, rubbing his aching head that was pounding from all different directions. The full moons were really taking a toll on him lately, but since he was leaving very soon he didn't want to worry Ushijima about it.

"Because Tendou is someone I love dearly," Ushijima replied without hesitation, making Tendou's face go red all of a sudden, feeling like he had to cover up. Ushijima's hands went from Tendou's neck to his chest, using soap to get the dried up blood off and make Tendou nice and clean again. "If I do this for Tendou then my heart is at peace."

Tendou wanted to do everything in his power to make sure he kept Ushijima's heart at peace.

"Remember what I said about Halloween," Tendou said softly, Ushijima looking up at him and nodding. "Yes."

'Remind me about what I really am,' Tendou had said, and Ushijima didn't question it. 'Don't let me forget.'

"Should we be going to the Whomping Willow again?"  
The Whomping Willow was where Tendou and Ushijima had started spending more full moons. No one ever went there, especially during the middle of the night with no purpose. But if someone did want to see what was up with Tendou and Ushijima sneaking outside, a huge tree with thick branches would come around smashing them to pieces.  
It was the perfect place for them.

"Yeah," Tendou closed his eyes, feeling a weaker side of him take over, and now he just wanted to sleep even though Ushijima's hands felt so nice on his body, warming every inch of skin, easing every cut and bruise he got that night. Ushijima, somehow, made Tendou's whole body relax and feel like he was normal, feel like he belonged somewhere.  
If it was with Ushijima, Tendou didn't seem to mind at all.

"The Whomping Willow."

" _Flower water has come in~  
Into my lonely heart~  
Red, orange and pink~  
Beautiful flowers of love~"_

Tendou's song was happy this time, singing the melody so lightly as he pranced around the common room, twirling around once in a while. He was helping 'clean up' after Sugawara was requested by the house head, but Tendou just ended up having his own little musical more than actual help Sugawara clean.

" _Please come to me~  
Please take my hand~  
That is my type of man~"_

"I guess he's in a better mood today?" Iwaizumi observed Tendou with Sugawara, Iwaizumi offering to help as well when he realized that Sugawara was expected to clean the _whole_ common room because he 'wasn't going to classes' and 'had the time'.  
Every knew that the real reason Sugawara was chosen was because his 'mudblood' wouldn't get tainted if he scrubbed disgusting Slytherin floors.

"What is 'flower water' anyway?" And of course, wherever Iwaizumi went, Oikawa went too. But of course Oikawa wasn't scrubbing the floor, no. He was polishing the furniture and silver, making them shine enough so he could see his reflection. Every time he did he would smile and put the piece of silver down proudly. Was there a spell to do this? Probably.  
But a 'mudblood' didn't need magic, so Sugawara was forced to do things by hand. Tendou, Iwaizumi and even Oikawa went along with it for now per Sugawara's request.

"It's an analogy," Sugawara explained. "When you over water a flower the petals and the stem become too big and it overflows with water. The song is talking about how the flower water in his heart is overflowing with love." Iwaizumi and Oikawa both looked at Sugawara, like they were trying to find out if he was being serious. Sugawara sighed, scrubbing the floors harder.

"He wanted a love song about flowers, okay? So I showed it to him once. It's a nice song!"

" _Without hesitation~  
Without any exceptions~  
I'll give you everything~"_

"What're you guys doing?" Semi came in, and of course Semi didn't have any classes either. Oikawa out of all them was the only one skipping class to be here. "Cleaning the flo-""Hey, why weren't you asked to clean the common room!" Tendou stopped his singing to exclaim at Semi, pointing his feather duster at him. Semi's eyes widened like he was being targeted, but then furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged.

"Uh, I don't really know...""Because he's not a mudblo-" Iwaizumi quickly hit Oikawa on the back of the head before he could finish the word, Oikawa wincing but he didn't try to defend himself for saying it.

'Mudblood'. Was it even an insult anymore? Sugawara has heard it so many times directed towards him it was like a second name.

"Semi-kun should be cleaning with us!" Tendou insisted, throwing the feather duster at Semi which Semi caught, giving Iwaizumi and Sugawara a look. Sugawara laughed nervously, shaking his head as he stood up and took the cleaning utensil from Semi, giving it back to Tendou. "Don't worry about it. We got everything under control here-""No, it's fine." Semi took the feather duster back, offering Sugawara a small smile.

"If you're doing it then I should be doing it too."   
Sugawara knew what Semi meant by that, so he didn't ask what he meant. But still, Sugawara felt an uneasiness about the statement, he just didn't say it out loud.

"Okay," Sugawara nodded slowly, letting Semi take the feather duster, Tendou huffing and sticking his chin up before he took another feather duster and started lightly feathering the bookshelf, quickly going back to his singing.

" _Please don't make me cry~  
Please don't hurt me~  
Now only he is~  
Everything to me~  
Forever and ever and ever~"_

Semi as well noticed Tendou's change in song genre, starting to dust the top of the fireplace, handling that part of the common room. "Is he okay now?" To be honest, no one knew. But if Tendou was singing love songs again, dancing around, perhaps he was.

" _The flower water that entered my heart~  
Please don't scar me~  
I love him with everything I have~"_

"Sugawara," Iwaizumi huffed as he finished scrubbing his part of the floor, wiping the sweat he built up with how hard he cleaned. Doing things the muggle way was definitely more tiring.

"I think Tendou doesn't sing just when he's stressed. I think he just _sings_."

Ushijima being a prefect was something that no one talked about, maybe because he never made it a big deal. But when they would see him in the hallways at 5 AM and 11 PM, no one dared to cross him, too scared of what he looked like he could do if he did catch anyone wandering about the halls of the schools when they weren't supposed to.

"Please stay in a single file line." The first years didn't hesitate to obey.

Even though there was the big transfer happening, for the first years who were staying at Hogwarts, they still needed to do the basic procedures and focus on the school year ahead of them.   
Ushijima was giving the 1st year Ravenclaws their tour of all the classrooms.

"Go! He's coming!" One of the first years whispered to another, but Ushijima was more than capable of hearing them. He knew he was pretty intimidating, but he was sure he didn't do anything to actually scare these 1st years.

"This is the Herbology greenhouse. You will be learning about various plants and their purpose, what they can do to help and which ones are severely deadly and dangerous," the last part got everyone to freeze, staying as silent as possible that if Ushijima closed his eyes he wouldn't even know a whole group of 1st years were in front of him.

"As you can tell," Ushijima continued on. "The greenhouse is not green. So please do not use that as an indicator that you are in the right place for Herbology. Perhaps use the plants." There was a scared, hesitant ripple of laughs through the crowd, making Ushijima furrow his eyebrows. Did he say something funny? 

"What is so laughable?" He asked because he genuinely wanted to know, but everyone closed their mouths quickly, like nothing ever happened, giving Ushijima that same terrified expression. Ushijima didn't understand, but before he could ask, a familiar voice coming down the hall got louder with every not it sang.

" _Sweet honey~  
Your smile is sweet as honey~  
Like flowers blowing in the spring breeze~  
In the spring breeze~"_

Ushijima turned around, seeing Tendou skipping down the hallway, a bright smile on his face that made Ushijima hold his parchment a little tighter. He quickly relaxed though when Tendou noticed him, waving eagerly.

"Waka-chan!"

The nickname got everyone shocked, a few gasps here and there, but that was nothing compared to when Tendou actually went up and wrapped his arms around Ushijima's neck, pulling him in for a tight hug.

And Ushijima fucking hugged back.

"I am in the middle of a tour, Tendou," Ushijima told Tendou, Tendou letting go a smiling at the 1st years. All of them were stunned, not sure if they should be less scared of Ushijima or more scared of Tendou.

"I see," Tendou giggled, leaning down to a few of them. "And they're not giving you any trouble, Waka-chan?" All the 1st years were quick to shake their heads, but Tendou just squinted at them, giving them an odd smile that wasn't supposed to be friendly, but no one knew what else to interpret it as. No one even knew exactly what this person was to Ushijima yet, but most could take an easy guess.

" _Where~  
Where have I seen you before~?  
Your smile seems so familiar~  
I can't seem to remember~"_

Tendou kept singing, turning around and looking at Ushijima with a sweeter smile, and of course Ushijima thought it was the prettiest smile he's ever seen. Tendou put a hand on Ushijima's neck and pulled him in for a kiss, making all the 1st years gasp. Tendou didn't do it out of jealousy of course, they were 1st years after all. He just wanted a kiss.

"Tendou," Ushijima pulled away first, his eyes slightly wide as he looked between Tendou and the 1st years. "That is inappropriate-""Is it?" Tendou hummed amusedly, patting Ushijima on the head.

"I'm sorry. Come to the Slytherin common room after." Ushijima cleared his throat and nodded. "Okay."

No one was quite sure what just happened, all of them gaping and following Tendou with their eyes as he began to walk down the hall, the same direction he was walking before he bumped into Ushijima. No one could believe what they saw, or rather they were just so shocked with what they just saw. Hogwarts was definitely an odd place.

" _Ah~ In my dreams~  
My dreams was where I saw you~  
Sweet honey, sweet as honey~  
Was you, it was you~  
In my dreams was you~"_

The day before leaving was definitely the hardest for everyone, nobody taking it lightly and trying to spend their time wisely. Tendou was no exception, but since he was told about his transfer late his interview ended up being the last day too.

If you could even call it an interview.

"That was quick," Sugawara commented as Tendou came out of the headmaster's office, his face dejected and pouting, Sugawara didn't even have to ask how it went. Clearly Tendou felt like shit.

"I have to call my dad. My mom is being such a- _argh_!" Tendou groaned, messing his hair up in frustration. Tendou's interview wasn't even 5 minutes, and Sugawara could guess what they were talking about. Probably just Tendou begging to stay and then getting kicked when he was told he couldn't. It must've been not only provoking, but terrifying for Tendou to leave to a place he's never been before and be expected to handle full moons on his own.

"I'll be with you for the full moons," Sugawara reminded Tendou, but Tendou didn't seem that satisfied with that. "I know you handled it that one time, Suga, but let's be real," Tendou chuckled coldly, making Sugawara gulp, trying to tell himself Tendou wasn't saying these things to offend him.

"You can't handle a full moon if Ushijima isn't there."

Tendou's full moons these days especially. He still wasn't sure if Ushijima has noticed the more feral side of him. Did he notice the amount of blood on increasing? Did he notice how Tendou was having more difficulty transforming back?  
Did he notice that Tendou could only make out Ushijima in throughout the whole forest?

"Ushijima gave me the recipe for Wolfsbane," Sugawara offered, but Tendou still looked stressed out, rubbing his hands together and breathing into his cupped up palms.

They were leaving tomorrow and Tendou still didn't have a plan for what he was going to do about all this. He couldn't contact his dad yet, he hasn't told Ushijima how he was going to handle the full moon without him because even Tendou didn't know, and Tendou wasn't sure how he was supposed to blend in with muggles - he could barely blend in with wizards!

"It's fine," Sugawara tried again to calm him down, stopping Tendou in the hallway and making him take deep breaths. "We're wizards. We'll figure this out and everything will be okay. Okay? Ushijima will have no reason to worry. I'll take care of you."

Tendou wanted to be reassured by Sugawara's words, he really did. It probably wasn't healthy the amount of reliance Tendou had on Ushijima anyway. Tendou should learn how to handle the full moon on his own.

He wasn't ready for October's, but at least there would be a Lunar Eclipse. As if that was any more of a perk than the other three weeks of the month. 

" _You call me senior~  
You call me senior but~  
My heart is fluttering~"_

"Aren't him and Ushijima the same age?" Iwaizumi put his book down, looking over at Tendou who was fiddling with his clothes as he packed them. In just a few hours him, Sugawara, Semi and Tendou were leaving, leaving Oikawa there on his own by himself to have the dorm. It wasn't that much of a benefit though, if Iwaizumi thought about it.

"Maybe he's running out of songs," Semi chimed in with a shrug, all of them watching as Tendou packed his clothes, stuffing a bunch of shirts and towels into his luggage. He didn't seem to notice that the three of them were staring at him.

" _Since the first time I saw you~  
My heart was stolen~  
My soul was shaken~"_

Sugawara still hasn't come back from his date with Daichi, but so far only Sugawara was the only one who could handle Tendou during his weird states of singing, when no one else knew if it was because he was happy or stressed or just in the mood to sing.

"Iwa-chan, do something," Oikawa demanded with a strained whined, nodding his head over at Tendou, but even Iwaizumi was hesitant, not wanting to say the wrong thing and make him even more upset. "He's singing a love song but I feel like he'll murder all of us and then himself."

Tendou didn't seem to hear their bickering behind him as he finished packing, still not believing he was leaving tomorrow with the rest. So many thoughts were going on through his mind, his number one of course being potentially caught by the ministry. What would he do if he did get caught? Run away? Deny everything? Throw his dad under the bus?

That was another thing too. He still hasn't been able to contact his dad because his workplace was being more demanding these days, but his mom wasn't picking up that Tendou seriously couldn't handle this school year. Just one year of homeschooling - was that too much to ask for?

" _From now on don't look at yourself as my junior but~  
Please look at yourself as a man for me~  
I love you so much~"_

Surprisingly it was Semi who stood up, taking out his wand. Iwaizumi was about to stop him, but Semi waved his wand around and all of a sudden music started playing. Tendou turned around, seeing Semi waving his wand from side to side like he was conducting. Tendou's face softened when he saw what Semi was doing, feeling his chest lighten a bit.

" _Please accept my love~  
Accept it all without any conditions~  
I fell for you~ I fell for you~  
Someone who is younger than me~"_

Seeing how Semi was handling the situation, Oikawa just scowled because it was adding to the noise, but Iwaizumi was amused to see that Tendou looked less tensed up and was actually enjoying the music much more. Semi didn't join in with the singing or anything, but he certainly didn't mind conducting Tendou's background music if it meant he didn't strain himself.

"Tendou?" There was a knock on the door and a voice that made Tendou's heart drop and put down everything, running over and opening the door with speed of a lightening. Ushijima stood there, mid knock, eyes slightly wide when he saw Tendou.

"Hello Tendou. Is it alright if we-""Yes!" Tendou quickly went to his bed to grab a sweater, not being able to explain how happy he was to see Ushijima right now. With everything going on in his mind, everything overwhelming him, he really needed an Ushijima right about now.

"Let's go, please." Semi stood there baffled, watching as Tendou took Ushijima's hand and pulled him out of the room and down the hallway. Semi scoffed, crossing his arms and trudging over back to his bed, throwing his wand down.

"I didn't even get a thank you."

Tendou didn't hesitate taking Ushijima to the back of the Slytherin tower, way passed curfew but did it even matter? He wasn't sure what Ushijima wanted to tell him, but he figured it would be able to wait since Ushijima hasn't stopped him yet. When they finally made it outside Tendou stopped running with Ushijima, taking a deep breath and sitting on the grass, waiting for Ushijima to join him.

"Aren't you gonna sit?" Ushijima sat next to Tendou and Tendou took the liberty of making a seat on Ushijima's lap. "That's better!"

The two of them didn't say anything to each other for a few moments, just looking up at the three quarter moon. At night it was a lot colder, so Tendou used it as an excuse to snuggle up to Ushijima, and Ushijima didn't mind at all.

"You still wear your bracelet," Tendou observed, looking down at Ushijima's wrist and chuckling. They had matching bracelets from the summer, and both of them wore it all the time except when Tendou had to take it off before a full moon.

"I charmed it so it will never come off unless I tell it to," Ushijima admitted, looking down at his wrist as well, letting the swan pendant dangle down. "Muggle material wouldn't suffice."

Tendou looked up at Ushijima and all of a sudden he bursted. He told Ushijima everything, from his fear of leaving to how his full moons were getting bloodier, to the fact that his dad was sending these short ass replies to his letters and not giving him sound advice.  
Tendou told him everything and it felt so good. If only he told him a little bit sooner though, because now Ushijima was more concerned than ever.

"If this is the case then Tendou should stay," Ushijima sat up a little straighter, his grip on Tendou tighter. "The ministry should empa-" Ushijima stopped talking, cutting himself off before he went on about 'ministry help'.

The ministry wouldn't help Tendou. Sometimes they both forgot that Tendou was an illegal being because of how loved Ushijima made him feel.   
What a bitch the ministry was.

"I know," Tendou laughed, kissing Ushijima's jaw. "I know, I know, I know!" If Tendou's way to cope was by humour and joy, then Ushijima's was the opposite, trying to embrace the sadness of the situation and reviling in it.   
It was nice to have someone complement your actions, your personality. Because you would balance each other out.

"I know," Tendou said softly, feeling Ushijima's hand run through his hair, pushing it down. "I know, but," Tendou pulled his face away from Ushijima to look at him properly, his eyes watering but he told himself he wouldn't cry.

Ushijima was just about to tell him it was okay to cry, but he realized the gods would only answer one prayer at a time, and for Tendou to tell him everything was already one down.

"But I'm going. I'm going, Wakatoshi. And I'm gonna face whatever I have to head-on. I should be able to handle this on my own now. You know I'm strong enough to do this alone!"

Ushijima did know. He knew Tendou was strong, knew Tendou was independent, knew Tendou would've found a way to handle the full moon without Ushijima - he was doing it perfectly fine without him before they met anyway.  
Ushijima knew all this, but of course he couldn't help but worry.

Ushijima knew Tendou could do this alone, but that didn't mean he should.

"I love you, Tendou," Ushijima let out in a soft breath, making Tendou laugh and nod, knowing that Ushijima was holding so much back, but decided for both their sakes, to save it for later. They would figure something out, they always did.

"I love you too, Waka-chan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end of the second (I guess it's the first since the first 8 chapters were pretty fluffy and just a recap) arc! I hope you enjoyed reading and you'll anticipate for my future chapters for this series!
> 
> Which storyline is your favourite so far? I have to admit I love writing about everyone, but Ushiten, Iwaoi and Asanoya so far are my most fun haha!  
> Asanoya is my favourite ship, but Bokuaka's dynamic as well has been very interesting for me. Anyway! Thank you for reading everyone and please expect more from me in my future chapters!!


	18. Hinata

Date : September 7 1997

Time : 7:30 AM

Location : Tokyo Train Station

Mission : Natsu is okay, right? Natsu's hand is here, strange men are over there... Natsu is safe. Make sure Natsu is safe.

When the muggle born students were made to take a regular, public train instead of the Hogwarts Express, it should've been Hinata's first red flag that this new school wasn't it.

There were a lot of red flags. Red flags that Hinata would've noticed, maybe if he wasn't so focused on Natsu and her safety, and getting back home to Kageyama as soon as possible. Red flags that perhaps the others noticed, but flew right over Hinata's head, but if the others did notice they certainly didn't say anything about it. Red flags, but Hinata wasn't focused on them.  
Because this was supposed to be for their safety.

It wasn't just the transportation. Already making them use muggle transportation, when they could've easily Apparated was enough to make Hinata question the decision, but he didn't mind not getting an answer.

The transportation wasn't the end of it though. The people watching over them, minus the professors from Hogwarts joining them, were all scary. They were big and intimidating and every single one of them always demanded instead of requested. When they told Hinata and Natsu they had to separate for a moment they just grabbed Hinata and pulled him away from his sister instead of asking nicely - another red flag he missed.

Then there was the food. The food was the biggest disappointment, especially for someone like Hinata who loved eating away at the world, proving that size had nothing to do with appetite. Kageyama told him to eat a lot so when he came back maybe he would be tall enough to kiss Kageyama properly, so he was excited for feasts like they had in Hogwarts.  
Yet when they got there, Hinata didn't know what to say when the amount of the food they got was less than a dog's meal.

The place they slept. There weren't even beds, it was just a big classroom with wooden floors. No futons either, they all had one blanket and one pillow and had to make do with that. Usually, Hinata wouldn't have minded, and it seemed that none of the other guys did too. But he was thinking about if Natsu could handle it. Everyone in the house that were the same gender were shoved into one room, so from 1st year to 7th, they were all sharing the same floor - so it was so cramped, Hinata was glad for once he was so small.

The lessons. Hinata wasn't even sure if he was a wizard anymore.  
They gave history lessons, astronomy lessons, Divination lessons, even Potions lessons, making them read the Hogwarts textbooks and do homework. It felt like the work was the same, yet Hinata felt like he was doing nothing. He hasn't touched his wand for more than 72 hours even though he used to use it all the time. And when he did take out his wand, there would be someone from the Ministry breathing down on his neck, watching him. He much rather wouldn't have used it in the first place.

So many things wrong, so many warning signs from the minute the the muggle born students left.

But let's start at the beginning.

"I'm gonna miss you, Kageyama!"

Hinata threw his arms around Kageyama, pulling him in for a hug and squeezing him tightly. Kageyama was hesitant, staggering as he was trying to find something to do with his arms.  
They both knew Hinata wasn't going to let go until Kageyama hugged him back.

"B-Boke!" Kageyama hit Hinata's back, but from what Hinata could tell it was one of Kageyama's lighter hits, proving that he wasn't actually angry with him. Even though it was a slow process, Kageyama hugged Hinata, wrapping his arms around his waist and squeezing back. Hinata smiled brightly, burying his face into Kageyama's neck, trying to get the last of what he could of Kageyama before he saw him on Halloween again, then after that probably would have to wait till the end of the school year.

"Don't be dumb while you're away," Kageyama muttered quietly in Hinata's ear. "And don't get hurt. I-I won't take care of you if you come back with a broken arm!" Hinata held in a smile, knowing full well that meant Kageyama would _so_ take care of Hinata if he came back with a broken arm.   
"Also, eat a lot! You're not growing enough and my neck hurts having to look down at you all the time." This earned Kageyama and kick on the thigh, Hinata letting go of him and dropping to the ground so he could glare up at Kageyama.

"Hey! I'll have you know I grew .25 centimetres this past week!"  
"Oh? Well I grew .30 centimetres. So who's really winning?" Hinata scowled at him, hitting Kageyama's side, Kageyama hitting him back on the head. Hinata really was going to miss Kageyama.

"Asahi-san!" Nishinoya's voice came from higher ground, everyone looking up at the sky to see Nishinoya on his broom, sticking his wand out in the sky and stirring up the clouds.   
Everyone knew Nishinoya was a powerful wizard, but he didn't have to rub it in.

But Nishinoya had a purpose, moving the clouds around, even producing a little lightening. When he was finished Hinata noticed that now, the clouds spelled 'I Love You, Asahi-san!' in big letters. Everyone was gaping at the message, some people whistling at Asahi and nudging him. Asahi himself was blushing red, but waved a hand up in the sky.

"Asahi-san, I love you!" Nishinoya screamed, flying down back to the ground, a very embarrassed Asahi trying to calm Nishinoya down, but Nishinoya didn't care as he jumped onto Asahi, wrapping his legs around his waist and his arms around his neck - everyone was either laughing, whistling or ignoring them.

"I can do that too-""Don't." Kageyama scowled at him, making Hinata pout but he didn't even bother thinking about it anymore. He wasn't as good as Nishinoya, but he wished he could do something for Kageyama before he left - which was very soon.

"Alright, alright!" The headmaster got everyone's attention. Almost all the Hogwarts students were there at the front of the school, both the people leaving and the people saying goodbye. They were about to leave just before headmaster Akaashi sent them off for good for the school year, not to return until Halloween.

"Their train is about to leave. Let me just say some final words before your departure." Everyone silenced, looking up at headmaster Akaashi, who was levitating himself over everyone to make sure everyone's eyes were on him.

"Again. I want to apologize for this tedious separation. For the hearts that will be gone along with the students However, please remember, that this is temporary," the headmaster emphasized 'temporary'. "Hogwarts is not being separated. We will see these brave students once again and the reunion will be celebratory. Until then," headmaster Akaashi pulled his wand up, holding it to the sky, saluting.

Bokuto was the first one to salute back. His wand went up high in the sky, followed by Daichi, then Kuroo, then all the Gryffindors were saluting including Hinata and Kageyama.  
Akaashi was the last one to salute, and his dad wasn't moving on until he did. When Akaashi finally put his wand up in the air, headmaster Akaashi nodded, putting his wand down.

"Thank you for understanding, everyone. I hope the people leaving will have a safe journey and we'll see you all very soon."

Kageyama, without looking at Hinata, took his hand, squeezing it. Hinata looked up at Kageyama, his eyes shining. Kageyama didn't say it, but Hinata knew what he meant, so he leaned up and aimed to kiss Kageyama on the cheek.

At the last minute, Kageyama turned his head and kissed Hinata on the lips.

"Holy shit! This is what your trains look like!" Tanaka exclaimed loudly, Kuroo having to take him by the back of the collar and shoving him down, telling him quickly to shut up.

"I'm about to tape your mouth shut, you hear me?" Kuroo hissed, having this be the 8th time Tanaka screamed about something muggle, fascinated by their world completely. It was embarrassing and attracting way too much attention.

"Eh, what's wrong? I'm a tourist, aren't I?" Tanaka protested, pushing Kuroo away but Kuroo was quick to hold Tanaka by the back of the neck and dragging him to the ticket booth.  
"Let me go, you bastard! Let me go! You think you're so strong, huh? Let go and we'll see who's the real man here!"

Hinata and Natsu were walking together, Hinata making sure he found Natsu right away and not letting her leave his side. Natsu was still young, and it wasn't that he was a protective brother - even though he kind of was - Hinata would rather cling onto her than to let her run around with the boys in the Hufflepuff house. All men were dangerous, even if they were a Hufflepuff.

But Natsu didn't seem to mind at all.

"Nii-chan, look! They have pork buns!" Hinata walked over to where Natsu was looking, his mouth watering at the display. He didn't have a lot of money, his mom only sending enough for fare, but if he made Natsu buy a child ticket then he could get away with it. Natsu was short enough, and even Hinata could buy a child ticket too. As long as Sugawara or Kuroo didn't catch him.

"Two pork buns please!" Hinata bought one for him and Natsu, letting Natsu munch on it as Hinata bought their tickets, having her hold his. Not everyone had bought their tickets yet, mostly the pure bloods who were there under suspicion, and didn't know how these muggle things worked.

"Woah! Look here, you have to push a button! Hinata, look! Are you seeing this!" Tanaka said very excitedly and very loudly making Kuroo sigh in frustration, yelling back at him that Tanaka couldn't be that loud.

"So how do I buy it?" Tanaka asked in awe at the screen, Hinata and Natsu beside him explaining the process, Kuroo supervising behind them as Bokuto ate some snacks he bought from a vending machine. Sugawara joined them shortly after, needing to buy one for Tendou and Iwaizumi since they weren't sure either. In the end Hinata bought one child ticket and one student when Sugawara scolded at him he shouldn't be cheating the system.

"Ow!" Tanaka was having a hard time keeping his balance on the train, continuing to stumble as the train moved. They all let Natsu take the last seat, Hinata standing in front of her and making sure she was okay while the rest of the people that went into the same cart as them stayed standing up.

"Hold this," Sugawara pointed to the strap above them, Tanaka taking it and holding onto it tightly, still wobbling around but he managed to make it natural and swayed his hips when the subway stopped and started.

"So what's the difference between a train and subway again?""Subways are underground," Sugawara explained, reminding Tanaka to keep his voice down since it was rude to be so loud.

"Muggles sure are something-""Quit using that word!" Kuroo seethed, hitting Tanaka on his side, making Tanaka wince, but Sugawara stopped him before they could get into a fight. It would attract even more attention if they were to argue loudly on the subway rather than just making Tanaka keep his mouth shut for the rest of the ride.

It did look weird to have so many students on the subway at once, but they played it off as a school field trip if anyone asked. They weren't wearing their Hogwarts uniforms and 90% of them had an easy time blending in.

"Nii-chan, do you want to sit?" Natsu asked, looking up at her brother, who was now squished between business men, leaning forward on Natsu since he would rather be physically close to her than a bunch of strangers. "I can stand for a bit." Hinata quickly shook his head, not wanting to have Natsu in the mix of strangers. Even if she could handle it, he would rather it be him.

"No. Stay seated," Hinata nodded reassuringly, giving Natsu a bright smile which made Natsu smile back. "Nii-chan is fine as long as Natsu is too."

The school itself on the outside looked like a normal school. One on TV almost, one Hinata passed by during the summer time but always ignored because he didn't go to muggle school. A regular sized, nothing extravagant, normal school.

Whichi should have been fine if 100s of students weren't expected to sleep there too.

"Welcome, welcome," one of Ministry men called out as the students gathered around the front field of the school, which had to be not even 1/5th the size of Hogwarts's front field. Hinata didn't comment on it though, holding Natsu's hand tightly and keeping her in front of him.

"My name is Faiji. I am the Minister of Magic. Yes, yes. That's me. I'm the real thing."

There were whispers around, no one thinking they would be meeting the actual Minister of Magic in person in their lifetime, such a high position coming to a low school like this.  
He must really care about the students to show up to such an event.

"I know, it's tragic. This move, this division. Oh, how sad it is, yet necessary! I assure you that these are the precautions we must take as a society for us to reassure the wizards that there is a safe place to be."

Hinata could hear Kuroo scowling behind him, murmuring to Bokuto. "I don't like his tone." Bokuto muttered something back but Hinata didn't catch it.

"And besides, you, er, muggle borns. You understand this world much greater than us pure bloods. Being apart of a muggle family and all, you can withstand anything, can't you? And those who were sent here under suspicion, I hope you know this is just another precaution we must make in order for us to make the wizarding world as safe as possible," the Minister gave a toothy smile down at the students which made Hinata hold onto Natsu tighter.

"Now, in honour of your coming, us at the ministry had taken it upon us to make you feel at home with," Minister Faiji moved to the side, showing off the school with his hand, but out of nowhere a burst of sparks popped, smoke filling the eyes of the students.

"A show!"

An elephant appeared, balancing itself on a ball as another ball was balanced on it's trunk. A bunch of monkeys were doing acrobatic tricks on a tightrope that appeared from thin air, jumping around and making funny noises with hats on. A ring of fire surrounded the students, but with a charming spell it wasn't hot, just there for decoration. A flock of doves flew around them, chirping a sweet melody with each other as they circled around the show and the fire. Natsu's face was in awe, wanting to go closer to the elephant but Hinata pulled her back.

"But nii-chan-""Stay here," Hinata hissed when she tried to protest and get closer. He didn't want her getting lost in the crowd of students who were already excited about the odd choice of show for them.

"Is this...supposed to be a circus?" Hinata heard Kuroo whispering. "I think so," Sugawara whispered back, and in the corner of his eye he could see Sugawara having a tight grip on the back of Tanaka's shirt. He guessed Tanaka wanted to see the elephant up close as well.

"What's he trying to say?" Bokuto growled softly, but Kuroo put a hand on his chest and made sure he stayed put as the 'show' ended, the Minister smiling at them as he went back to the front, clapping his hands. There were slow claps around the crowd, mostly out of obligation, but mainly confusion drifted around them. Hinata didn't clap.

"Well, I shouldn't talk any longer!" Minister Faiji laughed, getting out of the way and letting the students see the doors to the new school. "Go on and make yourselves feel at home!"

Minister Faiji not addressing them as 'Hogwarts' or 'wizards' should've been another red flag, but like the rest of them, Hinata missed it.

"You're a pretty good older brother, huh?"

Hinata was crouched in the corner of the 'Gryffindor room', biting his fingernails as he rocked back and forth, his knees pulled up to his chest curled up into a ball. He was strong in front of Natsu, sure, but when he was by himself like this he let loose and realized just how terrible this place was and how scary being separated from the known was.  
For Natsu he knew what he was doing, but now that she was off in her own room he was letting out his cowardly side.

"Did you see the way she was so willing to go to the elephant? What more if she's surrounded by weird Hufflepuff boys!" Hinata exclaimed in Kuroo's face, Bokuto to the side of them and laying out his blanket.

Hinata might've been too busy panicking to realize just how disgusting the room they were in was, but he guessed he would have all night to see what exactly they would be living in for the next 10 months.

It was a classroom. A regular classroom that could fit 30-40 students, just all the desks and chairs were cleared out. There were about 80 male Gryffindor students who were apart of this transfer, meaning that there was no way all of them could fit in here.  
But they were making it work.

"You're a good brother then, if you're worried about things like that," Bokuto gave Hinata a thumbs up, making Hinata less worried for his sister, but he still had an odd feeling that if he wasn't careful enough something would happen to her.

And then there was Kageyama. What was he doing right now?

"Oi, Tanaka!" Kuroo screamed from the other side of the room, making Tanaka flinch in his spot. He was in the middle of casting a spell on his pillow to make it warm, but it turned out he lit it on fire and now was desperately trying to take it out without water. Kuroo took his wand out and pointed at the small fire Tanaka made.

" _Aguamenti._ " Tanaka hissed when Kuro took the fire out and made Tanaka's one and only pillow soaking wet. "Hey! I had it under control!""Yeah, I know," Kuroo snorted, focusing again on his own blankets and pillows on the floor, neatly straightening it out. Hinata started on his as well, trying to take his mind off of worrying but it seemed like the only thing he could do was worry.

"A good wizard doesn't get scared about things like a difficult situation," Bokuto announced loudly, getting everyone's attention so everyone was looking at him. "Even though this isn't the greatest thing ever, at least we have each other, right? Good wizards-no. Good _people_. We look out for each other and help each other when in a pinch. So," he smiled at everyone, pumping a fist in the air in encouragement.

"Everyone. Let's look out for each other, okay? And let's get through this together. Let's be good people."

Bokuto and Kuroo must've noticed everyone's defeated look, but after Bokuto's pep talk it seemed like everyone was nodding and getting into a better mood. Bokuto grinned, giving them all a thumbs up before going back down and situating his blanket beside Kuroo's.

Hinata wished he could have that courage, that strong mindset. But right now, he was okay with a little bit of worrying. It wasn't like he could do anything else.

"Eating time! Come on boys, let's get yourselves a meal, yeah?"

When the teachers called them down for their first meal at the school, a nice big lunch feast for them, Hinata's steps became a little lighter as they made their way to the cafeteria. 

" _Meat, meat~ Can't wait to eat some tasty meaty~ Hopefully there'll be beefy meaty~ Meat, meat~_ " Hinata sang out as he skipped with the others to the cafeteria, which by now was unsurprisingly very muggle.

It wasn't a cafeteria like Hinata was expecting though. No, cafeteria would've been an upgrade. This was a canteen, not being able to fit all 4 houses at the same time so the Gryffindors had to share with the Slytherins. Gryffindor students had the most come while Slytherins had the least, so it made sense in terms of numbers, but it didn't mean Hinata enjoyed it that much.

But he still had food, right? So he decided that lunch wouldn't be so bad after all as he sat down and waited for his food to appear in front of him magically like it did at Hogwarts.

"What, are you expecting a maid to come?" One of the supervisors of the cafeteria barked at Hinata, making him flinch and quickly jump out, shaking out of the way and walking back with the crowd. He felt his back bump into someone, making Hinata flinch but when he turned around and saw that it was just Tanaka he relaxed a bit.

"Who do you think you're talkin' to?" Tanaka gritted his teeth at the supervisor, giving them a glare, Hinata not hesitating to hide behind Tanaka. "I'll have you know I ain't scared of no authority crap-""He apologizes," Kuroo pushed Tanaka's head down and making him stop picking fights with the supervisors. It was their first day after all.

"Right, Tanaka," Kuroo hissed, pushing Tanaka's head lower. Tanaka was holding in a scream, clenching his jaw but when Kuroo's forceful grip was just as strong as Kuroo's, he gave up.

"Yeah. 'M sorry," he managed to grumble, all while Hinata moved from hiding behind Tanaka to hiding behind Kuroo. Everyone at this place was so scary, he didn't know how to trust anymore.

The supervisor left them alone, giving Kuroo cut-eye before leaving them to get their food. They all had to wait in line to get their meal, kind of like at a real cafeteria. It made Hinata excited since it meant it was a buffet style and he would be able to choose whatever food he wanted! His spot in line wasn't too far from the front, grabbing a tray and eagerly sliding down to get his tasty meal.

His tasty meal of 3 carrot sticks and a bowl of rice, a slice of beef if you were a boy.

"What is this?!" Tanaka exclaimed, looking down at the sad bowl of rice. The Gryffindors occupied a long table, all the ages and genders mixing together. They Slytherins also came along, Sugawara, Tendou, Iwaizumi and Semi sitting with them. The other few Slytherins that came had decided to sit off elsewhere, but Hinata paid no attention to them.

"This is an insult!" Hinata cried out with Tanaka, poking the bowl of rice, which Hinata swore was stale and cold, and pushed it away. The carrots didn't even look washed and his slice of beef was undercooked. He wasn't going to eat that!

"You're all dumb if you don't know how to handle a situation like this," Bokuto scoffed, taking his wand out, making everyone's eyes widened. Of course! They were wizards after all, weren't they?

"Bokuto, I don't think-""Nonsense! This is probably a test, don't you think?" Bokuto cut off Sugawara, pointing his wand at the bowl of rice. " _Engorgio_." The bowl of rice, the meat and even the carrot sticks enlarged to a bigger bowl with bigger contents inside, actually looking like a proper meal Bokuto would eat. " _Incendio_." A fire came out of Bokuto's wand and he began to cook his meat to a proper colour, even warming his rice up as well. With an eager look, Bokuto put his wand down when it was finished and started digging in.

"See? In situations like this you have to-" one of the supervisors of the cafeteria, someone from the ministry, came up behind Bokuto, clearing their throat and looking down at Bokuto, a deathly, cold look in their eyes.  
Bokuto was slow to look up, but he gulped as he gave a shaky smile.

"He-Hello-""Wand." The ministry supervisor held their hand out, making everyone at the table drop their jaw. Bokuto was clearly shocked, sputtering out in defence. "Bu-But I-""Wand." The ministry supervisor wasn't budging, their hand out stiffly as they waited for Bokuto to give them his wand. Bokuto chuckled nervously, looking around the table, but everyone was equally as shocked and didn't know what to say.

"I-I won't do it again. I was just-""Wand."

This was the third time the supervisor demanded for Bokuto's wand, and there was a look in their eye telling everyone that they weren't going to ask a fourth time. So with a defeated sigh, Bokuto handed over his wand.

"Also," the supervisor cleared their throat as they put Bokuto's wand away into their sleeve, long gone, making Bokuto shake with nervousness. "Iwaizumi-san. Tanaka-san. Please follow me." Iwaizumi didn't hesitate to get up, just going with it. Tanaka was a bit of a different story, but Sugawara took the liberty of flicking the side of Tanaka's head before he could complain.   
"Just go," Sugawara hissed, watching as Tanaka got up, grumbling as he followed the ministry supervisor out of the cafeteria. Iwaizumi was there, patting Tanaka on the back.

They all watched them leave, then looked back to their sad lunch, unsure of what else to do. This should have been a big red flag to Hinata as well. Little by little though, was he reading the signs.

"Isn't that Asahi's sister?"

Everyone at the table turned their head to see a Slytherin girl sitting alone by the window, slowly eating her bowl of rice. Sugawara was the one to nod as they all looked back to their food, savouring the content because they didn't know what their next meal would be and if it would be worse than this.

"Yeah. She's the only girl in her year to transfer."  
"She's the only girl in Slytherin," Semi added on. "They're making her share a room with us." Everyone's eyes went wide, not believing the ministry could be so cruel. They were magic, weren't they? Couldn't they just magically make a room for her? Or even for her and Asahi?

"That's not fair! Does Asahi-san know?" Hinata knew how he would feel if Natsu were to be sharing a whole room with just boys, so Asahi must've been feeling similarly.

"I'm not sure," Sugawara shrugged. "We haven't seen Asahi since we got separated into our rooms."

Hinata was looking over at Asahi's sister, Osahi, and watching as she picked at her rice, not finishing a bowl. He noticed the girls didn't get any meat for some reason, but he decided not to comment on it for now.

"Call her over," Kuroo nodded his head at Sugawara. "Tell her she should sit with us." Sugawara was hesitant, looking over at Osahi and making an unsure face, probably debating if it was appropriate for him to do such a thing. Good thing Tendou was there though.

"Osa-chan!" Tendou practically screamed from across the room, waving his hand at Osahi. The call made the poor girl flinch, looking up at Tendou with a scared gulp.  
"Come sit with us! We're friends with your nii-chan!" Osahi gave a small head shake, bowing in her seat before getting up and putting her tray of food away. Everyone at the table's eyes followed her as she ran out of the room.

"Tendou," Sugawara hissed, hitting Tendou's side. "You scared her! Now she's really not gonna make any friends.""Eh, I asked her to sit with us," Tendou shrugged, crossing his arms together. "Not my fault she rejected such a fun invitation."

Hinata was wondering why as well, however. Perhaps Osahi wasn't very social like Asahi and didn't want to make friends. Or maybe because the table was filled with boys. Whatever the reason was, Hinata did feel a little guilty that Tendou's approach was a quite embarrassing.

"This didn't fill me at all," Hinata huffed as he looked into his empty bowl, every grain of rice eaten up. All of a sudden there was another piece of meat put in there, Hinata looking up to see Sugawara placing it down into Hinata's bowl. Hinata's face lit up, silently asking Sugawara if it was really okay.

"Yeah. I'm not that hungry."

Perhaps Hinata wasn't the only one, but he could hear whispers behind them of Osahi's name. He wondered if Asahi had any idea that people were gossiping about his sister, but that wonder flew out the window when another piece of meat entered his mouth.

Sleeping was the second worst to eating at this stupid school. The floors were tile so they were cold and uncomfortably hard. Everyone got one blanket and one pillow. A group of 80 or so boys had to squish together, so Hinata was fortunate his small body could crawl into the corner and curl into a ball comfortably. However, his sleeping buddy at his feet wasn't as comfortable.

"I'm sorry Hinata, can you move your feet a bit to the right? I keep hitting you," Lev requested for the fifth time that night. If Hinata kept moving around per Lev's request he really was going to lose it.

"Bokuto, stop trying to little spoon me! It's not gonna work!"  
"Ow! Tanaka! Tanaka, stop hitting me-god, this bitch is asleep."  
"Terushima, that's my ass."  
"We agreed to share a blanket if you wouldn't be a little shit about it!"

Hinata was having problems going to sleep. He got up slowly, stretching his arms and trying to get feeling back in his body. It was probably 12 AM as he tip toed between the people sleeping, his light steps trying to avoid anyone's fingers, which wasn't too hard since the moonlight outside was a big help.

"Hinata?" Kuroo called out, getting Hinata to turn his head. "Where're you goin'?" Hinata had to squint to find Kuroo, but he saw his head lifted up from his pillow, Bokuto sleeping beside him with a smile on his face somehow.

"Bathroom."

The bathrooms were down the hall for boys, and at Hogwarts Hinata would've had to get out of his bed anyway. It was basically the same thing, so he didn't see it as extra work when he got out of his blanket to go.

Except this time, there was already two people outside, tall and clearly arguing. Hinata could recognize one as Iwaizumi, his build and his side profile giving it away. Hinata had to rub his eyes to process who the second person was.

"I know, Tendou, okay? That's why I-""Did you tell Suga?" Iwaizumi sighed, shaking his head. It appeared that they haven't noticed Hinata coming yet.

Hinata and Iwaizumi became a good pair after last year, but when he was upset and arguing, it was a side of Iwaizumi Hinata hasn't seen before. And it was quite scary if you asked him.

"I couldn't tell him, okay? I'm telling _you_ Tendou, because you might be able to do something. Aren't you a pure blood too?"  
"But _you_ were the one who met with the Minister. You could've _done_ something!" Tendou seethed, leaning down to Iwaizumi and glaring at him. "What? Head too far up your ass to do anything about it?" Iwaizumi's glare was equally as scary, Hinata felt lightening between them.

Hinata decided that maybe now wasn't a good time to go to the bathroom, so he decided to back away with shaky legs. Of course, as he took steps back he just had to bump into someone else, and without looking he knew this person was big.

"Ah-" Hinata slapped a hand over his own mouth so he wouldn't make too much, turning around to see the same hard glare he's experienced multiple times. By now he should've been used to it, but now that it was the middle of the night and Hinata was still in the process of waking up, he felt like he could faint.

"Hinata!"  
"Aone!"

Hinata turned around to see Iwaizumi walking to him, but Hinata was already walking back, while Tendou went for Aone, grabbing him by the shoulder. Hinata could hear a 'What did Futakuchi tell you?' from Tendou, but now that Iwaizumi had Hinata's attention he wasn't thinking about Tendou. "Hinata, you alright?" Iwaizumi asked, Hinata completely forgetting about the bathroom and walking with Iwaizumi. "Go back to your room. Before you get caught."

Iwaizumi pushed Hinata to the direction of the Gryffindor room before he could ask what Iwaizumi meant by that. With a fuzzy, hazy mind, Hinata didn't ask more questions even though he had a bunch.

He didn't get to go to the bathroom, but that didn't seem to be the biggest problem.

"Nii-chan," Natsu whimpered, her arm grabbed by one of the minister people. All of a sudden Hinata was wide awake, running to them and grabbing Natsu back, pushing her behind him.

"Wh-What do you want with my sister?!" Hinata yelled, his voice shaking along with his body. He was scared - so damn scared, so many scary people were in this school, and Hinata didn't know if he could fight all of them.  
But Natsu was scared too. And if both of them were scared, then who was protecting Natsu?

"She's gonna sleep with you tonight. She's your sister, isn't she?" Hinata furrowed his eyebrows, looking into the Gryffindor room, filled up with boys who were half asleep or trying to go to sleep.

"Sleep...with me?"  
"The Hufflepuff girl's room wasn't big enough. So we're making them sleep elsewhere. We thought you'd prefer she sleeps with you though." The tone of the minister employee wasn't concerned or as caring as the statement might've seemed. It was almost like he was mocking the Hinata siblings, giving Hinata Natsu but knew that she couldn't sleep in there.

"Where are the other girls?" Hinata asked softly, looking behind him at Natsu, her expression timid and anxious. "Natsu.""Outside." She whispered back, her voice as tiny as her. "They're outside."

Hinata pulled Natsu inside the Gryffindor boy's room, missing the smirk the minister supervisor had, Hinata opening one of the curtains of the classroom just to see all the Hufflepuff girls who came setting up camp outside. There was about 40 of them, which Hinata didn't quite understand.

"Aren't we a magic school? Can't you poof up more room for them?" Hinata exclaimed loudly, not caring that he woke up all the Gryffindors in the room. Hinata's hand was still in hers as he glared at the ministry employee, his smirk not leaving his face as he pretended to think about the statement.

"Are we a magic school?"

Hinata's jaw dropped as the ministry supervisor left Hinata at that, walking away from the wide open door. His hand clenched around Natsu, making his sister whine, but he didn't let go. It was Kuroo who walked up to them, scratching the back of his head with a yawn.

"What 'appened?" He asked tiredly, but all Hinata did was point out the window. Kuroo looked, his eyes widening when he saw Yachi laying on the grass, along with all the Hufflepuff girls in their pajamas, huddled together as they looked up at the sky, none of them trying to sleep. Bokuto came up too, looking out the window, followed by all the other Gryffindor boys who woke up to the ruckus.

"Alright, alright!" Kuroo got everyone's attention when murmurs and whispers started. "Everyone get your shit. We're going out."

There was exclamations, protests saying that was unfair, especially from the 2nd and 1st years. Hinata wanted to do it too, take the Hufflepuffs place and let the girls sleep inside since no one was going to dare do magic. Not everyone was on board with the idea.

"Oi, OI!" Bokuto yelled, getting everyone's attention. "Don't fucking complain, you shitheads. Remember, we're doing this together. That doesn't mean just Gryffindors." 

Hinata gave Natsu his blanket and his pillow, trying to calm her down, but she already seem traumatized by the event, shaking her head when Hinata tried leaving. "I wanna sleep with nii-chan.""I can't, okay? I'm gonna sleep outside with the other guys. You're gonna have Yachi-san back though, alright?" Hinata tried to pull her away but she kept protesting, clinging onto Hinata.

"Nii-chan, please. I don't wanna sleep here. I wanna go home."

Hinata wanted to go home too. He wanted to go home so badly, he wanted a bed and a proper meal and Kageyama - god, did Hinata want Kageyama. But they were here now and no matter how badly Hinata wanted to complain and whine and scream, Natsu was already doing it.

So he couldn't.

"I'll come back for you in the morning," Hinata promised, pulling Natsu off of him. "Just wait for me, okay?"

Classes were...interesting as well. Especially after a night of sleeping on cold ground, his neck stiff and hands still shaking from the cold. Hinata felt like he couldn't concentrate even more than usual.

"Ah, I'm so tired," Lev stretched beside him. The classroom was the regular layout at any other muggle school, singular desks that faced a chalkboard and a big desk for the teacher.  
The Gryffindors were sharing a classroom with the Hufflepuffs.

"Thank you again, Hinata-kun," Yachi yawned beside him, Yamaguchi as well sitting with her, also looking quite tired. Hinata wanted to ask if Yamaguchi knew about the Hufflepuff girls being kicked out and almost ended up sleeping on the dirt outside, but Kogane beat him to the punch.

"You know about last night?" Kogane asked obnoxiously, slamming his textbooks on the desk, making all of them flinch. "They kicked out half your whole house! Didn't they tell you something? Were you kicked out too? I didn't see you outside!" Yamaguchi rubbed his eyes, turning around to look at Kogane, too tired to pick a fight.

"Yeah. We slept outside too." Hinata sat up, even Lev's attention was caught. They were all waiting for an explanation from Yamaguchi, Yachi having to hit Yamaguchi's side for him to realize.

"Ah, well you know Asahi-san's sister? She said she would rather sleep with her brother than the boys in the Slytherin house, but Asahi-san didn't feel comfortable with either option," Yamaguchi yawned, rubbing his eyes harder before deflating on his desk and closing his eyes.

"So we gave her our room and slept outside."

Hinata also noticed, Yamaguchi wasn't too bad if he wasn't with Tsukishima.

"Here, here now students," a professor - not one from Hogwarts, everyone pointed out immediately - came in. She was middle aged, her grey hairs showing and round glasses rounding her sharp face. Hinata thought she looked like a normal professor.

"Yes, the first day is always exciting. But we have a lot of material to go through. Everyone turn to page 15 in your textbooks. Summoning charms are an important one."  
"Charms?" Lev gasped, looking down at his textbook with wide eyes and looking at the people around him who brought their charms textbooks. "I thought this was Potions. I brought the wrong book!" Hinata and Yamaguchi snickered together, Yachi giving a look of sympathy but she didn't offer to share hers. "Do you think the professor would let me-""Quiet down now!" She got everyone's attention by clapping, holding her textbook up. 

Everyone took their wands out, ready to summon up something, but this only made the professor raise an eyebrow at them.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked accusingly, putting a hand on her hip as she looked at all the wands. "Who told you to take those out?" In confusion, the students started looking at each other, muttering some things, Hinata was also confused. This was how Charms class worked, the teacher would give the lesson and the students would try the charm if it wasn't dangerous. Summoning charms didn't seem too serious.

"We're not going to do magic today. No, no, not for you students," she laughed, waving her hands at them in a motion like she was trying to shoo them away. "I don't want to see you lot with a wand, alright? Let's put those things in hiding where no one can get hurt."

"So we're supposed to learn magic...without _doing_ magic?" It was Kogane who asked, asking loud and clear for the professor to hear. The professor - who still hasn't introduced herself - nodded with a smile.

"Precisely."

Hinata didn't bother dropping his jaw. Everyone else in the room did it for him.

"Kageyama!"

The only thing that got Hinata through the week - the crappiest, weirdest, most stressful week he's ever experienced - was the one phone call he was allowed to make on Saturday. His phone call was right after his sister, and he told his sister to call their mom and let her know how they were doing and ask to send some muggle money because it was very obvious that there was no magic stores around them.  
This moment on the phone with Kageyama was the happiest he's felt in a while.

" _HINATA! HINATA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!_ " Hinata flinched when Kageyama screamed in the phone, forgetting that this would be the first time Kageyama's used a phone that Hinata didn't explain how to use. He could imagine Kageyama using the old fashion rotary phone, which was very much different from the cell phone Hinata recommended to Kageyama.

"DON'T YELL AT ME!" Hinata screamed into the phone to let Kageyama know how it felt. There was silence on the other hand, Hinata thinking he hurt Kageyama by accident.  
" _Sorry_." Hinata couldn't help but smile. "I miss you so much, Kageyama," Hinata whimpered, hearing Kageyama on the other end coughing awkwardly. " _I-I mi-miss you t-too. Boke!_ "

The phone at this muggle school wasn't wireless, not even the rotary phone that Hinata could walk around with. It was a wall phone, right beside the door of the office it was in, so even though the ministry supervisors were not in the room for 'privacy reasons', Hinata could see the shadows outside.  
He had a feeling that his phone call wasn't as private as they promised.

"How are you? How's Hogwarts?" Hinata asked, wanting to hear Kageyama's voice as much as possible before he ran out of time and had to wait yet another week before he could hear Kageyama's voice again.  
" _It's okay. It's not as empty as I thought it would be. Uh, but I'm still kind of, er, never mind,_ " Kageyama sighed from the other end, leaving Hinata hanging but Hinata at this point just wanted to have Kageyama keep talking to him.

"Are you eating alone again?" Hinata asked in concern, knowing Kageyama wasn't going to eat with anyone else if Hinata wasn't there. "You have to eat with people, okay? Or else your food won't taste as good."  
" _I'm actually eating with, uh, with, hmm, never mind. Yeah, I'm eating alone._ " Hinata sighed in the phone. " _Well, Daichi-san sometimes joins me. But he, uh, he has other friends so I don't want to..._ " Hinata missed Kageyama so much.

"Can you keep talking?" Hinata begged softly, gripping the phone tightly, trying to cover his mouth so that the people outside wouldn't hear too much. "About anything. Please." Hinata could hear Kageyama clearing his throat, thinking about what to talk about, which wasn't a surprise since usually Hinata carried the conversation. But right now, Hinata just needed Kageyama to speak so that the ministry people outside would hopefully get bored of the silence and leave. It was creepy having them outside.

" _I started writing to my sister again. She hasn't replied yet, but I think she's just busy with work. She's in Paris anyway, so I wasn't expecting her to reply right away._ "  
"Yeah," Hinata smiled, hoping Kageyama could imagine it through the phone. "Keep going."

So Kageyama talked. And talked and talked for 15 minutes straight about nonsense, occasionally throwing an insult into the mix which would make Hinata throw one back, but they never stayed too focused on their fighting. Kageyama talked, even though he usually didn't and it just warmed Hinata's heart more despite being called a 'boke' and a 'dumbass' over and over because he knew Kageyama wouldn't do this so easily for just anyone.

For the first time in the whole week, Hinata laughed. His bright expression returned to him and he felt like the sun was on fire inside of his heart. He felt light like a feather and like every step after this would be like flying.

For the first time, Hinata could feel Kageyama's love from far away. Was it a sign of their love growing, even if it was just a little bit?

" _What about over there_? _How's the school? How's Tanaka-san and them?_ " Kageyama finally asked the question Hinata was sort of avoiding, but looking at how much time Kageyama spent talking, he supposed it was his turn.  
And honestly, Hinata couldn't wait to rant.

"Kageyama," Hinata groaned, running a hand through his hair, stressing his voice out. "You wouldn't believe how terrible this place is. First of all, I'm so hungry! I'm starving, they don't even have proper-"

The line was cut dead. When Hinata looked up one of the scary ministry people had pressed the button on the phone, cutting off Hinata's call, a creepily spread smile on his face.  
Hinata shook, gulping hard.

"Time's up." 

That was when Hinata officially realized, this new school was _not_ it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact : "Faiji" in Japanese means 'fudge' ><
> 
> Further proving my creativity level < 0 haha ^^


	19. Yamaguchi

Date : September 14 1997

Time : 5 PM

Current Location : Hufflepuff's room

Mission : Don't think about Tsukishima. Do not think about Tsukishima, even though Tsukishima is everywhere, do not think about Tsukishima.

Because if Yamaguchi kept thinking about Tsukishima then he would be one step closer trying to get back to Hogwarts when that was the last thing he needed to do right now.

Yamaguchi noticed it too, of course, he wasn't blind. From the time they had to take the train instead of taking a magical way of transportation, to seeing the poor excuse of a place to sleep - which the Hufflepuff boys sacrificed for Asahi's sister in order to make her as comfortable as possible - and the food their first meal was worst than an animal pound.

Yamaguchi was both used to being downgraded and pampered at the same time. His high status in the wizarding world didn't help him when he went to a muggle school for a year, so he sort of clumped this in his stereotypical version of a muggle school in the first place.

"I'm sorry about this, guys," Asahi apologized for the millionth time that minute even though everyone was reassuring him it was okay. The people running the school still haven't been able to give Osahi a room, claiming it wasn't fair for just one person to get their own separate room based on their gender.

Which was maybe a little bit true? But it wasn't even the fact that Osahi was a different gender anymore. They were a _magic_ school. The whole school was charmed so that no outside muggle could go in, or even see the school for what it was (at least that was what the ministry was telling them). What was so hard with poofing Osahi up a new room?

"Is Osahi gonna shower before going to sleep?" Yamaguchi asked, knowing that if she did want to shower in the evening then all the guys would have to take one first so she could come back into the room comfortably after hers. Asahi nodded, laughing shyly.

"Sorry, guys. She also needs to talk to her professors about some of the lessons, so might come a little later. I'm sorry-""You don't have to apologize every time," Aone grunted, saying something that everyone was thinking. He gave Asahi a pat on the back and a reassuring nod.

"Osahi is Asahi's sister. So she's family."

Was Asahi going to cry? It looked like it but he held it in, nodding at everyone. It must have been difficult, especially with the hard time the ministry supervisors were giving them, and a timid soul like Asahi was easily pushed around.

Yamaguchi was thankful to Tsukishima in times like this when he knew it was his right and now was able to speak a little louder.

He didn't speak up for Asahi though, no, those ministry people were scary as fuck. Yamaguchi swore he saw a dementor in one of their souls because the happiness and life in him was just sucked right out.

"The Hufflepuff girls also slept outside?" One of the other Hufflepuff boys asked in exclamation, but Yamaguchi corrected him. "The Gryffindor boys switched with them. They're sleeping inside now."

Everyone looked a little more relieved that Yamaguchi wondered if it was normal to care so much about a person even with no obligation to care about them. Would Tsukishima have done the same thing? Or would he have used magic to make another room and say 'fuck the ministry' all while doing it.  
Something in Yamaguchi's gut was telling him the latter.

"Yamaguchi-kun, take the 1st years to the shower," Asahi instructed, giving Yamaguchi a stack of towels. Since the 1st years were probably all still scared and didn't know what to do in these circumstances, as a senior it was important to guide them. Yamaguchi nodded, taking the towels and leading the 1st years to the showers, letting them go first even though all 4 houses were sharing the same showers, meaning they had to be quick.

"It's okay. Just don't waste too much water," Yamaguchi reminded them. "We're not sure if the other houses showered yet. We want to make sure there's enough hot water for everyone."

Hinata turned out not to be a person who held a grudge easily.

Even though he had a weird thing against Yamaguchi last year, accusing Yamaguchi of making his sister fall in love with him - which was a huge misunderstanding, by the way - and Yamaguchi responding with some mean words, Hinata didn't seem to let that bother him when Yamaguchi did something 'cool'.

"You wrote so much for your essay!" The first week of school, of course they would have homework and assignments. But they made Yamaguchi write with this stupid muggle contraption made out of wood, a black tip at the end that he had to rotate in metal when it broke. It was annoying and it hurt his hand, unlike a quill that felt thin and smooth between his fingers.  
He guessed it was cool he could erase it when he messed up though.

"Oh, yeah," Yamaguchi chuckled nervously, not knowing what to expect from Hinata and if he was going to shit on his work or something out of suppressed anger. Instead, Hinata smiled at Yamaguchi, pointing to Yamaguchi's essay.

"You must be really smart then! That's so cool!"

That's all it took to spark an unlikely friendship Yamaguchi didn't know he would cherish so much.

"How do you spell 'magnificent?'" Hinata asked, the two of them working together for a Potions essay, explaining the history of Skele-Grow and it's effect on the wizarding medical business.

"Is it like this?""That says 'magnitude'." Yamaguchi chuckled, writing the word down for Hinata, Hinata nodding with a smile and continuing to write. Yamaguchi noticed he wrote kind of slow, and a little messy, sort of like a child, but he didn't comment on it.

Tsukishima would've made fun of him right about now.

"How come you got sent here?" Hinata asked out of nowhere. They haven't been friends for long, but it seemed like Hinata didn't care all that much when it came to feeding his curiosity. He's asked Yamaguchi about 3 personal questions in the past few days, 2 of them Yamaguchi having to not answer for now. "Aren't you a pure blood? What did you do to get sent here with us?"

Yamaguchi didn't answer for a moment, not having talked about this with anyone yet. Tsukishima knew, and rumours spread around about it before but that was it. Yamaguchi was never open about this topic, mainly because no one ever asked. They just all assumed Yamaguchi was a nobody until he started talking to people in his 2nd year.

"I wasn't enrolled during my 1st year at Hogwarts. Before my 2nd year I was a Squib."

Yamaguchi was unsure what prompted him to trust Hinata. Maybe it was his enthusiastic spirit. His eager smile? Or his determination to get a good mark even though he kept messing up simple words over and over again no matter how many times Yamaguchi corrected him. Yamaguchi decided on his own that Hinata wasn't a bad person and he wanted to trust Hinata.  
Would he regret? All he had to do was wait and see.

"Oh," Hinata said slowly, Yamaguchi gulped as he waited for a reply. But suddenly, Hinata smiled widely at him, shrugging innocently, Yamaguchi wasn't sure if he had to squint to see him or felt hot because of the rays radiating out of him.

"That's okay! You're a really good wizard to me. Who cares if you started a little later? You're way ahead of me and I got my letter in my 1st year."

Yamaguchi's chest lightened and though he didn't realize, he could feel in the moment it would be a start of a slightly complicated, but long lasting friendship that he wouldn't regret.

"Do girls not eat meat or something? What is this?" Yachi ranted from across the table, stuffing her face with rice and lettuce. Yamaguchi noted that this place didn't give the girls meat, only giving the one piece of beef to the boys while the girls were left with rice and a bit of vegetables.

Yamaguchi always ended up giving half of his to Yachi.

"I'm starving," Yachi moaned, finishing her bowl in seconds, Yamaguchi eating slower than normal since he wanted to savour it. He was glad Tsukishima wasn't sent here because he was sure Tsukishima wouldn't have finished half of it and given the rest to someone else, and that person wouldn't have hesitated eating it. So yes, Yamaguchi was glad that between the two of them. he was sent here and not him.

"Maybe if you ask them," Yamaguchi shrugged, but they all knew it was a dumb idea to ask for more food. Students have tried it already, but all of them would get lectured, some that would put up a fight would even get sent to the office.   
No one in the past 3 days had tried getting more food.

"I just hope Osahi is okay," Yamaguchi heard Asahi mumble, stirring his bowl of rice quietly as he looked inside of it, letting the grains stick to the edge. Yamaguchi could see in the corner of his eye Yachi staring and trying to contain her want to beg for it if Asahi was just going to play with his food. "She has a big appetite."

Yamaguchi couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have a sibling here, much less a younger one. Yamaguchi knew how protective Hinata was already with Natsu, and Hinata was immature.  
Asahi, a mature 6th year who had things together most of the time, of course he would worry as well.

"I'm sure she's fine," Yamaguchi offered a small smile, pushing Asahi's bowl of food closer to him and making him eat a little more. "She's a Slytherin. She's got this."

It was almost the end of the week, but Osahi was still sleeping in the Hufflepuff boy's room. Asahi has tried every morning and every night to ask if they - not even the ministry, but the students - could make another room using some sort of spell or charm, just to give Osahi privacy.

Was it a shock when the answer they got was no? Not really, no.

"Tadashi-san," Natsu greeted him with a smile, bowing to him then bowing to the other Hufflepuffs at the table. "My brother told me to give you this when I saw you!" Natsu handed Yamaguchi a lazily wrapped present, using old newspaper and tape. Yamaguchi chuckled and nodded, ruffling Natsu's bangs and waving to her as she walked off to the other end of the table where Aone was sitting with some of the Ravenclaws.  
 _Aone_ should have been the one Hinata was watching out for, not Yamaguchi.

"What is it?" Before Yamaguchi could even open it someone else tapped on his shoulder. When he turned around and saw one of the ministry supervisors Yamaguchi gulped even though he knew he was innocent.  
Excuses and arguments started flooding his mind despite not doing anything in the first place.

"Yamaguchi-san. Please follow me." The ministry person's tone was not nice at all, but Yamaguchi didn't argue, taking the present from Hinata with him as he got up. Yachi and Asahi gave him a look of encouragement, but they were all probably thinking the same thing.

If Yamaguchi didn't make it out alive, tell Tsukishima he loved him ever so dearly.

"Yamaguchi-san! Welcome, welcome! Come in! Make yourself at home!"

Minister Faiji's office had to be twice the size of the Hufflepuff boy's room, Yamaguchi was sure that it was a spell making it so big. A spell they could be using for the Hufflepuff girl's room, or to make an extra room for Osahi.

"Sit down, sit down! I bet you're wondering why I called you in here, aren't you?" 

Of course Yamaguchi was wondering, but he didn't respond as he sat down in front of Minister Faiji's desk, sitting face to face with him. He had a creepy chill go down his spine, gulping as he tried hard not to look around, but out of the corner of his eye he could already see things that should be making him suspicious. 

Like the huge bookshelf filled with textbooks. The magical crystal ball that kept showing different images of students in the cafeteria, in the classrooms and some in the courtyard. The collection of wands he had hanging behind him on display, from the rarest to the most common. The pet Phoenix he had in a cage just a few metres away, but was sleeping peacefully so Yamaguchi couldn't play with it.

He pretended not to see any of it.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Yamaguchi-san. Nothing to be afraid of," Minister Faiji chuckled softly, making Yamaguchi even more afraid. He was creepy and gave off a vibe that made Yamaguchi feel unsafe when he was alone with him.

But this was also the Minister of Magic he was talking to. Yamaguchi's parents worked _for_ him and this guy probably knew that all too well. So Yamaguchi couldn't be rude.

"That cafeteria food is really something, huh? Hah! 'Cafeteria'! I'm really getting on with all this muggle talk!" The Minister laughed, making Yamaguchi shift in his seat. He still wasn't sure what he was doing here.

"What's your favourite food, Yamaguchi-san?" Minister Faiji asked, grinning at Yamaguchi, leaning in at Yamaguchi, making him stiffen up and unknowingly leaning back. The Minister chuckled, waiting for Yamaguchi's answer and something told Yamaguchi that he wasn't allowed to leave unless he answered. He didn't know what this had to do with anything.

"Japanese? Chinese? American?" Minister Faiji tried to get Yamaguchi to talk, a wide smile on his face. "Don't be shy, Yamaguchi-san. Can I call you Tadashi-kun? That sounds so much better, doesn't it?" 

Yamaguchi should've refused, but he couldn't seem to shake his head. "Uh, fre-french fries," Yamaguchi answered softly, wanting to change the subject from his name. "My favourite food is, uh, french fries." The Minister laughed, nodding his head as he waved his wand around.

Magically, french fries and a burger appeared on the desk out of thin air. It looked so appetizing, Yamaguchi's mouth was watering easily after over a week of shitty food that was barely edible.

"Go ahead, Tadashi-kun. Eat, eat! It's perfectly safe," the Minister hit the table as he laughed. "A growing boy needs a good meal, don't you think?"

Yamaguchi felt like it was a trap. His eyes widened at the meal, smelling the fresh heat of the fast food, his mind fogging with memories of him and Tsukishima eating together, cheap food that they could get with the allowance their parents gave them even, and even though they were used to high class platers and fancy meats, nothing beat plain fries.

Tsukishima and fries. He missed both so much.

"Why," Yamaguchi asked slowly and shakily, but he was still asking. "Why are you doing this? Are the other students getting food like this too?" Yamaguchi didn't know if it was okay to ask these things, but offending the Minister of Magic - was it really that bad when 100s of students were eating shit?  
This wasn't fair if Yamaguchi was getting special treatment and everyone else wasn't even getting a full cup of water.

"'Why'?" The Minister repeated, raising an eyebrow at Yamaguchi and humming softly, smirking a bit in a way that reminded Yamaguchi that eating those fries and that burger would admit defeat.

"Because Tadashi-kun's parents are important to me. I promised to take care of you and that is exactly what I'm doing," Minister Faiji explained with an innocent tone, but Yamaguchi could see right through it. "Don't be ungrateful, Tadashi-kun. You're experiencing something not many students can experience in their lifetime. Special treatment from the Minister of Magic? Don't you think you should be a little more nice to me?"

Yamaguchi was disappointed to say he ate every bite of french fry and burger that day.

"Calming Draught is used to calm a person down after experiencing shock, trauma or emotional outburst," the teacher explained, the class filled with Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors again.

"Maybe we should give some to Asahi-san," Yamaguchi joked, everyone around him giggling with him. The professor snapped his head to them, narrowing his eyes, but they've learned by now how to shut up quicklynso that they wouldn't be suspected. It worked again, Hinata and Yamaguchi high fiving quietly, snickering quietly to themselves.

Yachi had pointed it out, but Yamaguchi knew as well that most of the teachers weren't from Hogwarts anymore. Like professor Ukai, who came with them and even rode the train with them to the school. He was there, but apparently he wasn't teaching any lessons anymore, just supervising during lunchtime and during 'gym class'. But he wasn't even doing anything remotely close to what he did at Hogwarts.

"Peppermint and lavender are mixed together. Along with crocodile heart." Yamaguchi saw Hinata grimace beside him as he wrote down the notes, which Yamaguchi taught him how to do so studying would be easier for them. For some reason though, Hinata's grades still weren't that high which Hinata blamed on 'favouritism'.

Speaking of which, Yamaguchi still hasn't told anyone else about what happened with the Minister and him the other day at lunch.

He was too scared to bring it up, having a strong feeling the Minister would call him down the minute he mentioned it to someone and nicely charm him to never speak of it again.  
He didn't want the special treatment either though. So he had to think of a plan to get rid of both his fear and this weird 'giving spirit' from the Minister without causing too much drama - basically Yamaguchi has given up.

"How's the Halloween planning?" Yamaguchi asked Yachi when there was 5 minutes of class left, the professor allowing them quiet free time for them to put away their textbooks and school supplies. "You were able to call Shimizu-san, right?"

Yachi sighed, hitting her chin on the desk. "I did. But I thought this school was gonna give me more to work with in terms of planning," Yachi pouted, Hinata also joining in the conversation.

"What was your plan for Halloween?" He asked excitedly, scooting his chair over to them. "Because I want Kageyama to experience a good Halloween this year! It has to be unforgettable!"  
Yachi's expression also lifted, nodding enthusiastically. "Of course! We were gonna decorate the whole dining hall and the front yard. We were only going to charm 50% of the decorations and the other 50% would be done by hand in order to represent the muggle born students, but," Yachi sighed again, her enthusiastic tone winding out of her. "I haven't gotten any planning done at all. I don't want Kiyoko-san to do everything either though..."

Yamaguchi patted her head empathetically, wanting to comfort her a bit but the professor at the front had other ideas. "Yamaguchi-san," the professor called out, getting everyone's attention.

"Minister Faiji's office. Now."

Everyone in the classroom murmured and whispered around, their eyes following Yamaguchi. He could hear some of the things they were saying, other words getting drowned in his own thumping in his ear drums. But he heard Hinata behind him, loud and clear, not bothering to look back and wave at him.

"So Minister Faiji _is_ at the school."

Yamaguchi officially hated Minister Faiji's office no matter how cool his pet Phoenix was. This majestic, big winged creature, nuzzling it's head into Yamaguchi's hand, so gentle and docile. He was glad that new ones were born in ashes. It was a beautiful process of life that Yamaguchi believed should have been more appreciated.

"His name is 'Fireball'. Very original, right?" The Minister laughed, making Yamaguchi flinch and quickly pull his hand away, not wanting to be seen enjoying the office. That might lead to being called down more.

"Tadashi-kun," Yamaguchi grimaced at the name, "it has come to my attention that you are interested in magical creatures. Correct?" The Minister didn't even look at Yamaguchi as he sat down at his desk, flipping through papers Yamaguchi couldn't read because they were in a different language. "Magical creatures are your specialty. Is this true?"

Yamaguchi didn't know where he heard this from, but he managed to shake his head. "No. They just like me." Minister Faiji let out a huge laugh, clapping his hands loudly, Yamaguchi had to take a step back.

"How humble! I like that about you, Tadashi-kun." Yamaguchi wished he could ask him to stop calling him that. "Well, such a talent shouldn't go to waste, shall it?" Minister Faiji grinned at Yamaguchi, nodding his head over to Fireball. 

"What would you say to taking care of a few magical creatures instead of those _boring_ classes you've been attending."

Yamaguchi froze, seeing this as a second trap. No one has done magic since the day they've gotten here and even though they were learning how to do a spell or make a potion, no one had tried yet. It was all textbook work, which Yamaguchi didn't mind too much but he could tell everyone was getting more and more confused as the days went by.

"I-I don't-" Yamaguchi could feel his throat closing up, coughing away his anxiety. "I don't think I'm, uh, suited for this type of job."

The Minister looked at Yamaguchi, like he was calculating in his head whether to spare this poor boy and just shake him around a little more. Could he tell that Yamaguchi didn't want all this special treatment?

"Tadashi-kun," the Minister cleared his throat, holding his hand out. "Give me your wand."

Out of shock and fear, Yamaguchi hesitated. But Minister Faiji was equally as stubborn, standing up this time, the moment he moved Yamaguchi got his wand out. Slowly, he handed it over to Minister Faiji, watching closely as he took it and sat back down.

"Alder wood? Suits you," Minister Faiji smiled, inspecting the wand. "Did you buy it yourself?" Yamaguchi's response was delayed, too focused on his wand, scared the Minister was going to confiscate it or take it away. "Ye-Yes sir. Mr. Ollivander, uh, he let the wand choose me..." The Minister seemed pleased with the answer, nodding his head.

"Alder wood is quite picky with it's owner, you know?" Minister Faiji commented, looking up at Yamaguchi. "Someone who isn't stubborn. Who won't use their magic to hurt or attack, but rather to help others. The owner is typically a considerate person. A likeable fellow."

Yamaguchi gulped when he saw Minister Faiji looking at the core, sweat dripping down his back.

"Ah, of course," Minister Faiji laughed, "Kelpie Hair! What more to expect from a Yamaguchi!" Yamaguchi wasn't sure what that meant, but Minister Faiji gave him his wand back, Yamaguchi snatching it from his hands and quickly putting it back in his sleeve. 

"Kelpie hair. You know, that's seen as a weak core, Tadashi-kun. And with your wood, lots and lots of people would see you as a, well, as a _weak_ wizard." Yamaguchi's cheeks felt hot all of a sudden, the room getting way more humid than how he remembered. Minister Faiji was grinning at him, looking from Yamaguchi to his pet Phoenix.

"Are you a weak wizard, Tadashi?"

Yamaguchi choked, his throat dry and his palms sweating. His body felt both cold and hot and the world turned flat as his status of a wizard was questioned. At this point he wasn't sure if special treatment was what you could call this.

This was manipulation.

"Take care of a magical creature or two this year, Tadashi-kun," the Minister grinned, waving his hand at him. "And prove to everyone. You are _not_ a weak wizard."

Without being told to, Yamaguchi left the office, feeling a lot shittier for someone who just got a one-on-one talk from the Minister of Magic himself.

"Tadashi!" 

Hinata's voice was as loud as his hair was bright and Yamaguchi liked that about him. "Tadashi! What did the Minister want to talk to you about?" Yamaguchi cleared his throat, not wanting to drag Hinata into this. Yet at the same time, he wanted to confide in someone. Asahi would tell Yamaguchi to play the safe route and Aone would say to trust authority for now.   
Hinata. Hinata would do something reckless.

"I met his pet Phoenix," Yamaguchi answered with a chuckle. "His name is Fireball."

Hinata made Yamaguchi want to be a muggle born. How happy he was to do muggle things, explaining the life of a muggle and what he did over the summer. Yamaguchi was just a little bit jealous.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Bokuto and Kuroo also approached them, walking with them in the hallway. Yamaguchi's original plan was to go to the Hufflepuff room and read a book (by the window because the lights were broken), but it seemed that the Gryffindors liked playing around.

"Miss Quidditch, Yamaguchi?" Kuroo asked, throwing an arm around Yamaguchi's shoulders as they walked together, Bokuto and Hinata fooling around right away. Now that Kuroo asked, Yamaguchi hasn't thought of Quidditch once since they left. He hasn't even thought of flying or anything that had to do with Quidditch, but it seemed that a lot of the Quidditch players were bringing up how much they'd be practising right about now.

Something in the back of Yamaguchi's mind was telling him it was because he played Quidditch for Tsukishima, not for himself.  
He ignored that voice though.

"Where were you guys heading?" Yamaguchi asked, wanting to get his mind off of the Minister and anything magical at this point, but being a wizard that was nearly impossible.

"Apparently there's a convenience store on school ground!" Hinata exclaimed with a smile, jumping up and down with excitement. "And since we get 3 Galleons a week that means we can buy _food_."

A convenience store, Yamaguchi learned, was a little store that sold a little bit of everything - hence it's convenience. 

"I guess that's a good thing," Yamaguchi chuckled, Kuroo leading him outside and Hinata and Bokuto racing outside. Now that they were a good distance away, Yamaguchi could see it, the small little shop in the corner of the borders of the school. Being with friends, Yamaguchi thought he could calm down a little bit and maybe forget for a moment about the odd treatment he's been getting this past week. He had a lot to consider and to think about, like who he was going to tell, who to confide in, who to look out for.

And most importantly, who to trust. 

"What do you mean you don't take wizard money?" Kuroo asked in a frustrated tone, the four of them having collected a bunch of snacks and pre made meals that they would find a way to heat up, putting them on the check out counter. "You're on magical property, I am very sure you can take wizard money."

The owner of the convenience store shrugged, opening the register to show what seemed to be muggle money and muggle money only. Kuroo let out a loud groan, hitting his head with his fist, trying not to explode but it wasn't really working.

"But you have to take this money. One of these is worth that whole register!" Bokuto exclaimed confidently, and even though the math was inaccurate, Bokuto was standing firm, showing the cold coins to the convenience store owner.   
"You can't tell me you don't take this kind of money. This is obviously more precious than these flimsy bills!"

Yamaguchi watched for the past 10 minutes Bokuto and Kuroo fighting the store owner, trying to get him to accept wizard money, but this man wasn't listening, repeating the same words over and over again.

"I'm sorry, but we do not accept foreign currency." Then he would bow with that annoying employee smile of his.

"It's not foreign!" Kuroo finally screamed, Bokuto beside him to back him up. Hinata was beside Yamaguchi, watching in awe as the scene unfolded, wondering if this was really the right way to handle the situation, but nothing else seemed to be working either.

"You're within 30 metres of a wizarding school-"  
"You know about the wizarding world-"  
"You have wizards as costumers-"  
"Meaning that you should be taking wizarding currency."

Bokuto and Kuroo alternated with their points, Yamaguchi watching and waiting for the store owner to bow again. However, in that moment a few more people came into the convenience store, ministry employees, only 3 of them. Without looking at them, the ministry employees grabbed a bag of chips and some chocolates, moving Kuroo and Bokuto over at the counter and paid.

Paid with _muggle_ money.

"Thank you for your purchase, have a good day," the store owner bowed with a smile, the ministry employees showing no sympathy for the students as their mouths gaped open, watching them leave. 

Hinata whined, Kuroo screamed, Bokuto got his wand out and Yamaguchi,

Yamaguchi left. Because he knew if he was in there any longer he would feel guilty knowing if he did ask the Minister for muggle money, he was 99% sure he would get it.

"So what happens with the Galleons if we can't even use them?" Hinata asked, holding his allowance out, desperately looking between Kuroo and Bokuto, Yamaguchi wished he left a little faster. He wished he didn't see the glare in Kuroo's eyes, he wished he didn't hear Bokuto slamming his fist in on the counter.  
He wished he wasn't there in the first place.

"The money...goes back to the Ministry."

Dinner was a bitch too, Yamaguchi hated every second. 

And no, he wasn't in that sorry excuse of a cafeteria that was supposed to be like the dining hall at Hogwarts. No, he _wanted_ to be there. Not here. He wanted to be literally _anywhere_ else but here.

"Make yourselves at home. Yes, yes, get comfortable! Everyone, get comfortable. Yes, yes, sit down. Sit down, everyone sit down together. Like a family, yeah?"

They were at a long table, in Minister Faiji's office but Yamaguchi noticed it was charmed so that it wasn't an office anymore, but strangely like the dining hall at Hogwarts, just with one table. The sky was beautiful when they looked up at the ceiling, the stars in the sky twinkling slowly and the half moon beaming light along with the candles in the centre.

How lovely this would've been if Yamaguchi wasn't stressing the fuck out.

"To celebrate your second week here at your school, you all deserve to have a nice meal, don't you?" 

It wasn't just Yamaguchi there. He recognized the others - Iwaizumi Hajime, Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Futakuchi Kenji, Yaku Morisuke - and a few more Yamaguchi couldn't name right now. All of them were there.  
And it didn't take a genius to see the pattern.

They were all pure blood.

"To be in that atmosphere of muggle all the time. Draining, right?"

Yamaguchi could see Iwaizumi flinch at the statement, and Yamaguchi himself didn't enjoy it either. By now he could tell a person why Minister Faiji made him feel uncomfortable, and it wasn't just the creepy smile he gave or his sultry words that were trying to make Yamaguchi side with him. It was the fact that something like this was going on while the outside was a literal war-zone right now.

Wasn't the point of this school to protect the muggle born students in the first place?

"Go on! Eat!" Minister Faiji waved his wand over the table, massive plates of food appearing, the scent hitting everyone's noses immediately. Yamaguchi heard Tanaka's stomach growling loud, he had to put a hand over it to make it stop. Iwaizumi gulped. Futakuchi didn't hesitate sticking his hand out. Yaku was hesitating, looking between the Minister and the food.  
Yamaguchi was staring, knowing that this was another twisted way to get all of them on his side for whatever reason. Yamaguchi knew, so why was he so tempted?

"Come on now, I know kids your age need all the nutrients possible! Go on!" Minister Faiji encouraged them, pushing the plates of food with his wand towards all of them, each of them getting a plate of what Yamaguchi could guess was their favourite food.

Because Yamaguchi got another plate of fries and a burger and nothing has looked so appetizing before.

"Are the other students getting this?" Iwaizumi was the one to ask, his voice gruff as he looked at the Minister. Iwaizumi must have been strong because everyone else was already a bite away from a good meal.

Minister Faiji raised an eyebrow at Iwaizumi, his smile still on his face before throwing his back in a laugh. "Ah, Iwaizumi-san! Yes, yes, you are the caring type, aren't you?" Iwaizumi didn't laugh with him.

"Well, the muggle students are already getting protection, aren't they? A few light meals won't kill them," Minister Faiji stated, as if it were a fact but even Futakuchi was putting his fork down, not taking the bite of his food anymore. All of them were looking at Minister Faiji, waiting for him to finish his claim.

"But you pure bloods. You all don't deserve to be here. Headmaster Akaashi sent you here because he thought it wouldn't be fair if just muggle borns were under suspicion. He claimed that the blood of someone shouldn't be the only indicator of skepticism. Can you believe that? I know you pure bloods wouldn't do anything to hurt the wizarding world, because let's face it - why would you?" Minister Faiji grinned at all of them as they shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Iwaizumi had a look of disbelief on his face, but didn't say anything further.   
Even though he looked braved, he was probably scared too.

"Pure bloods don't deserve to be here. So feast! In honour of the families you come from and the generations of wizards to come!"

It was Futakuchi who threw his fork down and got up, storming out of the room. Minister Faiji raised his eyebrows but he didn't look offended or anything - no. He _laughed_.

"Oh, that Kenji-kun. Heard he purposefully came here for his lovely, er, _friend_ of his. See how sweet pure bloods are? Would a muggle born have done that? Don't think so!"

Yamaguchi didn't even want to put his hand up. Everyone was staring at their food, both tempted to eat but at the same time knew they shouldn't. They all wanted to do what Futakuchi did, but no one else had that kind of attitude, especially Yamaguchi.

"What're you waiting for? Go on everyone. Eat!"

It took a good minute or two before Tanaka took the first hesitant bite. A few people followed along, and before Yamaguchi knew it he was apart of the feast as well. There was a weird feeling in his stomach, telling himself that it didn't matter because he was a pure blood. This was okay because Tsukishima was a pure blood. He shouldn't worry because Yamaguchi was a pure blood, a pure blood that didn't deserve to be treated like a muggle born because he wasn't. It was muggles who were hunting wizards and magical creatures, not wizards. Yamaguchi was a pure blood and he deserved that respect, not to be looked down on. Yamaguchi wasn't a weak wizard.   
Yamaguchi was _not_ a weak wizard.

So why did his eyes start watering as he took the last bite of his food?

"Hello? Yes, can I please speak to Tsukishima Kei? This is Yamaguchi Tadashi."

One phone call a week. At first Yamaguchi didn't use it, not knowing the mechanics of a phone and not completely sure if it was useful or not. But when Hinata explained how he was able to hear Kageyama's voice through it, gushing about how Kageyama's sister was coming back for the Christmas break so that they could spend time together and other things Yamaguchi missed, he decided to give it a try.

" _Yamaguchi-san?_ " It was headmaster Akaashi on the phone, a voice Yamaguchi didn't know he would miss so much. " _Yamaguchi-san, I'm sorry but Tsukishima-san is in a tutorial right now. He can't come to the phone._ "

Red flags. Yamaguchi should've poured all the information, tell headmaster Akaashi what was going on in the school, tell headmaster Akaashi that Minister Faiji was a lunatic who wanted all the muggle borns to suffer. Yamaguchi should've said something to let headmaster Akaashi know that this wasn't the school he thought it was, that this wasn't for the safety of the muggle born students, that this school was literally taking magic away from them even though they were just as wizard as a pure blood. Yamaguchi should have used this opportunity.

"When will he be available? It's Saturday."

There was silence on the other end, guessing headmaster Akaashi was checking something to see the schedule. " _He ends at 5 PM. Sorry, Yamaguchi-san_." Yamaguchi sighed, shaking his head even though headmaster Akaashi couldn't see. Tsukishima of course would be taking more classes. He was so diligent, Yamaguchi should've expected it.

"Can you leave a message for me please?" Yamaguchi requested. " _Of course._ " Yamaguchi cleared his throat, looking at the time to see how much he had left for this phone call. Apparently the others have been getting less than 20, so Yamaguchi still had plenty of time.

"Can you tell him not to overwork himself too much please? And to take care of himself. And to get a lot of rest! The last one especially." Yamaguchi could hear the scratching of a quill - oh how he missed quills so much - in the back. Even if he couldn't hear Tsukishima's voice he was glad to know that he was okay at least. Yamaguchi of course was thinking about him, but the more he thought about him the more sad he got.

" _Alright. Thank you Yamaguchi-san. I'll be able to pass this message on. Take care of yourself over there, okay? I heard from the Minister that you're taking care of his Phoenix. Must be exciting._ ". 

Yamaguchi's eyes widened, gripping the phone tighter in realization. "Headmaster Akaashi! Headmaster Akaashi, I need to tell you-"" _Oh, speaking of the Minister. Apologies, Yamaguchi-san, I must go now. I'll give this message to Tsukishima-san as soon as I can. If that is all,_ " Yamaguchi sputtered as he heard a click.

"Headmaster? Headmaster Akaashi?! Headmaster!!" Yamaguchi screamed into the phone but when there was no reply he sighed in defeat, slamming it back into the wall and leaving the room. The ministry employees outside that were monitoring the phone call didn't question or acknowledge Yamaguchi's frustration, simply bowing as he walked by.

Stupid. Yamaguchi knew he was stupid sometimes, but now he felt especially stupid. Now he had to wait another week, and if Tsukishima actually picked up then there would be less of a chance to talk to headmaster Akaashi again.  
And Yamaguchi wanted to talk to Tsukishima badly, he hated to admit he would probably forget again to mention to the headmaster that they were living in a literal hell.

"How was your phone call?" Yamaguchi sighed at Asahi, shaking his head as he sat down in the Hufflepuff room, taking a book out and sitting by the window so he had light to actually see it. Asahi gave a sympathetic smile, patting Yamaguchi on the back and sitting next to him.

"It's alright. You still have next week."

Yamaguchi wanted to tell Asahi, but something was pulling him back. Perhaps he didn't want to burden Asahi with the knowledge he had and give Asahi his conscious that while all the muggle born students were being like shit, Yamaguchi was living the life. Perhaps he didn't want Asahi to judge him even though Asahi was the last person to judge anyone so easily, especially when Yamaguchi's side of things wasn't completely clear.  
Perhaps Yamaguchi thought someone else would do something so he didn't have to.

"That's a cool book. Where did you get it?" Asahi asked, Yamaguchi looking down and clearing his throat in remembrance. It was a bit used when he got it, lazily wrapped by the gifter and till now Yamaguchi wasn't sure how he got it.

"Shouyou gave it to me. He said he couldn't wait till my birthday." He laughed a bit, Asahi joining him before telling Yamaguchi he had to go and check on his sister since the sleeping curfew was coming up. Yamaguchi started reading again, already half done the book despite Hinata giving it to him only a few days ago. The cover might have been what got Yamaguchi's attention, the font in cursive gold letters, shining every time you angled it, the photos on each page vibrating with colour, and he could see some of Natsu's old notes erased in them which were actually quite helpful.

Hinata was just as much of a wizard as Yamaguchi. Hinata might be a better wizard than Yamaguchi.

But Yamaguchi was _not_ weak. 

The title of the book gleamed as the sun went down, no one commenting to Yamaguchi how the book was useless to them right now, deciding it was just a side hobby for Yamaguchi. And at the end of night Yamaguchi would take the book outside and sleep on the grass with it, making sure it was close with him and not getting damaged or stolen.  
What turned out to be one of the most used and prized things in Yamaguchi's possession.

_Care of Magical Creatures : Deluxe Edition_


	20. Kuroo

Date : September 16 1997

Time : 3:46 PM 

Current Location : The Courtyard 

Mission : It's fine if Tanaka vomits on you. As long as Bokuto doesn't shit in the courtyard and Lev stops _crying_ for fucks sakes.

"Hinata, I know you miss Kageyama but please, _take off that sweater_. You've been wearing it for more than a week straight and you're starting to smell like garbage."

Daichi gave Kuroo one job.

"Tanaka! Off the roof! Come down here or I'll make you fucking regret it!"

One job that Kuroo promised he could handle.

"I told you, you can't just jump out the window whenever you feel stressed. I know, I know, it's tempting, but trust me, it's for everyone's benefit. I believe you can hold that urge in a little longer."

If Daichi was here right now, what would he have done? 

"You think you're getting special treatment because you're half Russian or something? Lev, I'm telling you right now to _put him down_. No, Hinata, don't get on his shoulders! You're both in so much trouble once I finish beating Kogane's ass!"

If he saw how the Ministry treated them, would he have been so focused on taking care of people his own age?

"Bokuto, I know it was the last-yes, I know it was the last cookie. I am aware-yes, yes. Yes, I know we don't get another cookie until next week. But you can't cry over something like this."

Daichi gave Kuroo one job.

"Asahi, you're not a Gryffindor. I can't-okay, fine, I'll help you."

One job he wasn't supposed to mess up or give up on so easily. Yet, here he was, on the verge of tears of frustration, trying to hold himself and everyone else together.

"You have to go to the bathroom? Okay. Why are you telling me this?"

Daichi gave Kuroo one job. And Kuroo was determined to seek it to the end.

If Kuroo had to rank who his favourite junior was, he would tell people he doesn't play favourites - but obviously Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi was quiet and nice, friendly and could do things by himself. He didn't constantly expect Kuroo to dote on him and he rarely bothered Kuroo, whether because he was too shy to do so or because he really didn't need any help. Whatever the reason, Kuroo was very thankful to Yamaguchi for not being a pain in the ass all the time like certain others were.

"Why do you keep getting called down to Minister Faiji's office?" Kuroo finally asked one day, not being able to take it. Now that was more obvious that Minister Faiji was spending quite a bit of time at their humble school, but for some reason wasn't making a face appearance for them. Kuroo wanted to have a talk with the Minister as well, but it seems he's been favouring a selective amount of students.

"Huh? Oh..." Yamaguchi seemed distracted, which wasn't uncommon for a lot of them these days. It wasn't an ideal situation, but Kuroo's been through worse. Instead of complaining, he was taking a 'go with it' approach, just trying to survive until they got the all clear to leave this place. Even if it wasn't until the end of the year, they were going to leave one day, weren't they?

"He wants me to take care of his Phoenix."

Kuroo opened his mouth but closed it again, thinking that was a lame reason to be called down to the Minister's office three times a day, sometimes more. Kuroo didn't know much about the Ministry of Magic, but he did know that they had enough money to hire people to do stuff like that instead of making a student do it. Maybe because Yamaguchi liked magical creatures?

"Is it fun?"

For a reason Kuroo didn't know, Yamaguchi stiffened. Like there was something he wasn't telling Kuroo, and Kuroo could tell Yamaguchi wanted to say something. There was something holding him back though, and even though Kuroo wanted so badly to push it, he didn't.

Because Yamaguchi was his favourite. And he didn't want to force Yamaguchi to say something he didn't want to.

"His Phoenix..." Yamaguchi trailed off. The two were out in the courtyard together, Kuroo planning to just sit down and enjoy the weather before it got colder, Yamaguchi joining him since the school was starting to smell like sweat. It appeared that there were no janitors either.

"His Phoenix is very spoiled."

Kuroo got the message, and he could get that much just by the vibe given right when they arrived here. He knew, from being a victim of borderline poverty, he knew what was happening.   
Except it wasn't about the money this time. It was an aspect that no one at this school could've controlled, not the pure bloods, not the Minister himself. No one could predict how you would be born, so this wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair, but what could Kuroo do about it? He was dating a rich boy so he wasn't biased, but if he were to go by Kenma's words...

Kuroo was ready to eat the rich - and he was sure as fuck starving.

"It's cold as balls out here!" Tanaka exclaimed obnoxiously, the Gryffindor boys laying their blankets down on the grass. They were still sleeping outside since the Hufflepuff girls were kicked out, so the Gryffindor boys gave them their room for the time being. 

Only, it's been over a week and there still wasn't any extra rooms. The Gryffindor boys have been sleeping outside for 9 nights straight and September was only getting colder. They couldn't do this forever.

"What's wrong with your balls then?" Bokuto asked with a distorted look, Tanaka scowling back at him. Tanaka also has been called to the Minister's office multiple times, and at first Kuroo thought he really did do something wrong, and he wasn't sure if he should be relieved or even more irked to find out that wasn't the case whatsoever.

"They won't even let _us_ make the room bigger," Lev scowled, trying to stretch the blanket more but his body was a little too long for the average make. Apparently Yaku gave him his, but Lev still didn't fit. No one else was offering theirs though, even if Kuroo would've given his if it wasn't cold as balls outside.

"At least the stars are nice outside."

As soon as Hinata made the comment, there was a clap of thunder and rain started pouring. It didn't even look like it was going to rain a second ago, but all of a sudden there were grey clouds covering the sky, all the Gryffindor boys getting drenched within minutes.

"Well," Kuroo cleared his throat, his hair covering his face completely, he had to wipe his face just so he could see the Gryffindors. "I think we should go back inside. At least."

So they were at the front of the school inside, watching outside as the rain kept pouring. He wasn't sure why no one thought about what they would do if the weather hit them against their favour, but now Kuroo had to think quick or else really no one was going to sleep tonight.

"Kuroo-san," Hinata shivered, his teeth chattering together as he tried to wrap himself up in his blanket even though that was wet too. "I-I think Ka-Kageyama's sweater is wa-washed now," he managed to stutter out, Kuroo so badly wanted to facepalm but he held it in. Everyone was tired and ready to just go to sleep, even if it was in the middle of the school like where they were now.

"Okay, okay, quiet down!" Kuroo silenced everyone who was murmuring different things, all trying to just get a calm place to rest for the night, but even Kuroo was getting discouraged at this point.

"Kuroo?" 

Sugawara's voice was like an angel's in that moment. He turned around, seeing Sugawara with Tendou, using their wands as a flashlight and squinting as they saw all the Gryffindor boy's completely soaked.  
Tendou managed to snicker, but Sugawara looked genuinely concerned.

"We saw it was raining outside," Sugawwara explained, watching as Kuroo sighed nodding, all of them dripping and leaving the floor wet. No one was probably going to clean this up, but at least it gave the people at the school an excuse to wipe the dirty floors.

"You guys should sleep in the Slytherin room with us," Sugawara took his sweater off, a shirt underneath, giving the sweater to Hinata and drying him off. "We have more than enough room, there's only 12 of us there."

Bokuto was the one who gave Sugawara the biggest hug, squeezing him tightly, while Kuroo just patted his back as exhaustion waved over him.

"Do you think penguins emote like us? Like, really like us. Do you think they smile and frown, it's just that we don't see it?"

To whoever thought Slytherins were these conniving, ambitious people, Kuroo wanted to somehow save this midnight talk and let them listen. 

Don't get him wrong, Kuroo was very grateful to the Slytherin house for letting the Gryffindors occupy their classroom, which was a mere 2 inches bigger in dimensions, but they still all managed to fit somehow (Kuroo made them fit).

"They probably flap their wings around. You know, since they can't fly. They have to use their wings for something." Kuroo gave Bokuto a big kick on the back when he actually responded, making him grunt in pain and look behind him at Kuroo helplessly. "What?""Go to sleep," Kuroo hissed, hitting Bokuto again, making Bokuto shift on his blanket and turn his body so he was facing Kuroo again.

"What do _you_ think penguins do to show their emotions then?" Bokuto asked, as if he were testing Kuroo, but Kuroo just scowled at him, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to ignore him.

"Maybe they kick snow at each other," Hinata chimed in, surprising everyone with his voice that came out of nowhere, but he was quickly added to the conversation. "Snow, fish. Maybe they kick snow when they're angry and a fish when they're happy."  
"What do you think they're saying to each other when they open their beaks?" Bokuto asked in fascination, the topic of penguins all of a sudden getting everyone talking.

"Penguins leave the eggs with the dude, right?" Semi whispered, adding on to the conversation. "I think humans should learn about that.""But that's because the women are getting food," Sugawara explained, rolling over as he carried on the discussion. "They're badass hunting and stuff. I say that the males have a huge responsibility taking care of an unborn egg."  
"Well, if the males are trusted with something like that, don't you think the females are trusted even more?" Bokuto asked, Tendou's question sparking a lot of questions now. "Because they have to come home. They can't just not come back."  
"Tell that to my mom," Semi snorted. "She thought it was cool to leave me with my dad all alone to raise a kid."

"Enough." Kuroo groaned, turning over seeing all of them, eyes opened and talking about the most useless topic right now. "Go to sleep. We all have class in the morning."

Kuroo wanted to contribute to the conversation. He wanted to give his weird opinions and tell everyone how he thinks penguins can't fly because humans hypnotized them into thinking they were flightless birds.

"Kuroo, you alright?" Bokuto asked, genuinely concerned, Kuroo had to sigh and nod his head. If Daichi could do this, so could Kuroo. He's seen Daichi handle them all so many times, a good leader could keep everything under control, including himself.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Kuroo yawned, hearing everyone else go silent, some snores here and there. "Just tired."

Gryffindors had classes with the Hufflepuffs, so naturally Bokuto and Kuroo sat with Asahi. When they found out they weren't really doing magic, not only did Bokuto freak the fuck out, but Asahi had a quiet one man party in the back.

"I'm already so behind! I can't even make a feather float without letting my mind wander!" Bokuto exclaimed desperately, shaking his head as he looked down at his textbook. "I need a little bit of practice! At least a day."

Asahi on the other hand, _rejoiced_ in the fact that he didn't have to use his wand, especially when they realized Defense Against the Dark Arts was still being taught, but not experienced. Asahi had a lot of fun with his textbook by himself, studying. 

"I knew a patronus was a lot to expect," Asahi chuckled to himself as he flipped through the textbook of Herbology, circling different ingredients that Kuroo wasn't sure he needed for. "This is okay. It's safer this way, not using our wands. Who needs a patronus anyway?"

Kuroo was in the middle. He didn't hate the fact that they weren't using their wands, but he would've preferred it for sure and thought it was stupid a wizarding school wasn't allowing them to actual do magic.

Were they even a wizarding school at this point?

"Dementors. Hopefully none of you will ever have to face one in your lifetime," the professor wrote down the notes on the board, Kuroo copying them down right away. Bokuto was making an origami crane for some reason, while Asahi was also following along, covering the photo of the dementor in the textbook with his hand. A patronus was also being demonstrated in the textbook, but Asahi didn't cover that part.

"I wonder what my patronus is," Bokuto whispered to them as the teacher kept writing down long notes over and over again. "Hey, Asahi, you know your boyfriend's patronus? Fucking sick! The dementor had nothing on him." Bokuto exclaimed excitedly while laughing, hitting the desk in the process as Asahi looked over at him with wide eyes.

It took him a while to realize, but Bokuto was laughing by himself.

"Wh-What? Why do you know what his patronus is?" Asahi asked, a little too loudly because the whole class was looking at him now. 

In a fit of excitement, Bokuto probably forgot that Asahi didn't actually _know_ Nishinoya faced a dementor to this day, and no one told him because they never thought it was necessary nor was it good for Asahi's heart.  
Daichi was the one who managed to convince Nishinoya if he brought up the patronus and the dementor over and over again Asahi would 'think he was conceited' and because of that it seemed Nishinoya never brought it up. And Asahi never knew Nishinoya faced a dementor. 

Until now, that is.

"Well, uh, how do _you_ not know-""I know his patronus because he told me! But he only knows because...because..." Nishinoya might've let it slip a few times, but never the dementor part of the story.

Kuroo was facing the front of the class, pretending he couldn't see or hear anything going on.

"I mean, he didn't _really_ face a dementor. I think dementors are quite relative and don't need to be-""Bokuto!" The professor scolded, getting Bokuto's and Asahi's attention, both of them freezing once they remembered they were in a class. "Enough! If you two want to talk then talk outside!"

Asahi sheepishly sank back down in his seat, trying to hid himself while Bokuto deflated, his hair drooping down and framing his face. Kuroo bit the inside of his cheek, without looking patting both of them on the back.

This school was draining everyone. It was probably just the beginning of odd confessions and useless fighting for all of them.

"No, no, no. If Mercury hits on Wednesday _then_ you'll have good fortune. On Fridays though, that's a death sentence. You know what, just erase it! Start it again, you can't hand this in."

Helping Hinata with his homework was something Kuroo felt like he should be getting paid for. Daichi did it more than Kuroo did and yet Hinata still barely passed his classes.  
But if Kuroo helped him with his homework Hinata didn't even get to hand it in. Because they would up so late working on it, Hinata would lose interest and just give up.

This time, Kuroo didn't have an excuse though. Hinata had nowhere to run off to, no spells to practice, no Quidditch moves to show Kuroo. Now Kuroo really needed to make Hinata pass his classes or else Daichi would have something to say.

"I'm tired. And bored," Hinata whined, stretching his arms on the table, the two of them doing their homework in the cafeteria since they wasn't a library. "I wanna go outside and play."  
"Playing is for kids who finish their homework!" Kuroo scolded, slamming the pencil in front of Hinata's face. "When you're finished one paragraph then you can go outside. But right now finish your work!"

Hinata blew the pencil away but Kuroo just slammed it back in his face, making Hinata begrudgingly take the pencil again, scribbling down more nonsense and not even spelling words right. Kuroo sighed, knowing Hinata was doing it, half to spite him but the other half just because he really didn't know what he was writing about.  
Which was the half Kuroo worried about the most.

"Oh, it's just Kuroo and Hinata," Sugawara smiled, walking in the cafeteria with Tendou, holding a pile of books and some papers. "Mind if we join you guys? We're studying too."

Kuroo wanted to make a comment about how they weren't really studying, it was more of Kuroo yelling at Hinata to do his work, but he decided against the idea and just urged Hinata even harder to finish up so that he could study with Sugawara and Tendou and get some of his own work down.

"I don't get it, okay? Divination is hard and stupid. I just took it to pass a course."  
"Well at this point you won't even pass! Read the textbook again," Kuroo huffed, Hinata groaning as he skimmed over the page for the fiftieth time that hour. Sugawara couldn't help but look up from his own book, over at Hinata and glancing at his work.

"Divination? You know who's good at this? Iwaizumi-san," Sugawara chuckled, putting his book down and pointing to Hinata's work. "But I learned a thing or two from him. Here, Venus on Friday is good sign. Maybe because Venus is the hottest planet - did you know that, Hinata?" Sugawara was pointing out things to Hinata, making connections to the textbook and actually teaching Hinata.

And Hinata was actually buying it.

"So when the stars align in the North and then...Pluto is charted? Then it's good luck?" Hinata's tone was excited, his eyes wide when he asked.  
"Well, you won't die. But I think the North would align with Saturn better, don't you think?" Sugawara had taken Kuroo's spot 30 minutes ago when Hinata asked for Sugawara to teach him more, Kuroo accepting defeat and letting Sugawara do his thing.

"I never believed in fortune telling," Tendou commented, the two of them sitting together and finishing up a paragraph for their Potions class. "But sometimes I like to think that my moon lines up with Waka-chan's sun or something. I don't know, it's cute in it's own way, don't you think?"

Kuroo didn't answer for a moment, unsure what Tendou was talking about. He watched as Sugawara used his hands in the sky, explaining to Hinata how the constellations helped with telling the future.

"I think," Kuroo finally said, watching Hinata enthusiastically writing down something, which was the first time Kuroo's seen Hinata want to write anything down. "Hinata won't shut up about this for the next 5 months."

Because of Asahi's personality and Asahi's personality only did Bokuto and Asahi start talking again. Of course, Asahi had a lot of questions and Bokuto answered them respectfully.

"So...Noya-kun saved you all from a dementor last year? And you saw his patronus..." Bokuto nodded slowly, putting his hands together as he waited for Asahi to finish off.  
"And...he fainted. Then he woke up the next day?" Bokuto nodded, finally having completed the whole story of what happened last year. Kuroo watched the whole thing unfold, heard the story maybe a dozen times in that seating and Asahi still managed to look quite panicked.

"I didn't know..." Asahi whispered, making Kuroo sighed and get up so he could go comfort him. Daichi has warned him that sometimes Asahi had depressed periods, usually Sugawara would hit him to cheer him up but Kuroo was used to comforting Bokuto that it wasn't in him to hit Asahi.  
Especially Asahi. Only a Slytherin could hit Asahi.

"Don't feel too bad about it!" Kuroo tried cheering Asahi up, patting his back a few times. "Noya-kun was able to defeat that dementor. Show it who was boss and then you know what? He fucking owned that shit." The statements seemed to be making Asahi a little bit better, but Kuroo could see he was still unfocused, probably imagining the whole scene.

"But...why didn't he tell me?" Asahi asked with a soft voice, forcing out a small laugh that maybe was supposed to lighten up his mood a bit. "I mean, these types of things. Don't you tell each other big things when you're dating?" Kuroo and Bokuto exchanged a look before Bokuto opened his mouth again.

"Yeah, about that..." So Bokuto explained why they had to tell Nishinoya that it wasn't a good idea to tell Asahi because they were more or less worried about Asahi freaking out about the situation.  
Obviously, Asahi proved more strength than expected.

"It's not like I would've went crazy or anything!" Asahi exclaimed, throwing his hands up, Bokuto and Kuroo both flinched at the reaction. "I know Noya-kun is more than capable of handling a patronus. I've seen him ride a _dragon_. He's jumped off a mountain cliff before. He's thrown himself off his broom and my Boggart is literally him _dying_. How did you guys think I couldn't handle it?"

Kuroo had so many questions that couldn't be asked right now, just shaking his head and clearing his throat. "You're right, Asahi. We should've told you sooner. We're sorry."

This seemed to do the trick for Asahi because he was nodding with a stern expression on his face, crossing his arms. "I accept your apology! You know, I can be scary myself sometimes too. Not just Noya-kun."

Kuroo slapped Bokuto's hand before he could say anything back, not wanting to ruin Asahi's already better mood. He didn't need anymore dumb fights, especially between two of the more responsible people at the school.

Well, Asahi was responsible. Bokuto was one of the kids Kuroo ended up babysitting.

"Are you gonna use your phone call on Noya?" Bokuto asked, the three of them ending up hanging out in the Hufflepuff room since it was still early and Osahi didn't need to go to sleep yet. The Gryffindor room was obviously not an option for a little while longer.

"I think so, but I hope he doesn't get confused with the phone. I explained to him that he couldn't yell or else it'll hurt my ears, but-" at that moment Asahi's stomach growled, loud and clear for all of them to hear. Bokuto's echoed the growl and Kuroo's as well.

They've all really been starving these past 2 weeks, Kuroo felt his stomach eating itself.

"I can't take it!" Bokuto was the first one to shout out, pulling at his hair before leaning down, pulling Asahi and Kuro with them in a small huddle. It was a little suspicious, the three of them close together like this, but Bokuto had a strong grip on them.

"Listen. I say tonight, we do it," Bokuto whispered, Asahi furrowing his eyebrows at him at the suggestion. "Do...what?""It!" Bokuto repeated, briefly poking his head up and looking around before going back down in the huddle, eagerly looking at the two of them.

"We raid the kitchen! Get the food we _should_ be eating, not the shit they've been feeding us."

Kuroo hit the back of Bokuto's head, giving him a look that said they should _not_ be doing that. But Kuroo wanted to too, he couldn't lie. He's been wanting to for the past few days, especially when he could smell of fresh meat off of Iwaizumi's sweater, or Tanaka's collar having some gravy on it.

Kuroo made a promise though. To Daichi, that he would take on the role of responsible leader and make sure no one got into trouble. And this idea screamed trouble.

"That's crazy! There's no way we could pull off-" Kuroo's stomach growled again, this time louder. Even Asahi was looking a bit hesitantly at Kuroo, offering a weak smile.

"I don't know, Kuroo," Asahi's small voice suddenly was loud in Kuroo's ear, Kuroo couldn't help but scowl. "You're supposed to be on my side!""But I'm so hungry," Asahi whined, holding his stomach. "I'm so hungry and just the thought of a chance at more food than vegetables and cold rice is making me feel fuller than I have in days."

Asahi's and Bokuto's wide eyes made Kuroo shift uncomfortably, seeing how desperately they wanted to do this, mainly Bokuto while Asahi nervously followed. With a defeated sigh and an eye roll, Kuroo tsk'ed and nodded, hitting the back of Bokuto's neck and slapping Asahi's shoulder.

"Fine." Bokuto and Asahi cheered quietly, the three of them looking around the empty Hufflepuff room to make sure no one heard them. When they huddled back together they all had game faces on, getting themselves ready to break into the kitchen and finally get a proper meal, and if they were lucky sneak some extra food out to feed the others as well.

"So," Bokuto looked between Kuroo and Asahi. "How're we gonna do this?"

It was at midnight when Bokuto kicked Kuroo awake even though Kuroo hasn't even been able to close his eyes for more than a second. The plan of theirs was simple - or, as simple as they could make it.

The Hufflepuffs were sleeping with the Ravenclaws ever since the unanticipated rain the other night, but since the Hufflepuff boys room that was given to Osahi was right next to the Slytherin boys room, Asahi played the 'I want to be in the closest room as my sister' card (which was very true as well) and got to sleep in the Slytherin room with the other Gryffindor boys.  
So now that they were together, they could wake up together and leave as a trio.

The tricky part was getting through all the people in one go.

"Is Tanaka drooling an ocean?" Kuroo kept shushing Bokuto's side comments as they tip toed by everyone, doing their best not to step on a hand or a leg accidentally. It was getting a bit difficult as they passed by Lev and Hinata, Lev taking up 80% of the floor while Hinata kept tossing and turning, murmuring weird things but the only thing Kuroo could make out was 'Kageyama'.

"Ah-" Asahi covered his mouth as he tripped and fell on Kuroo, Kuroo catching him quickly, the three of them freezing and making sure no one heard them. After a minute they all settled down, their heartbeats slowing down together as they snuck around the rest of the floor, successfully passing Aone's stern face and Terushima's odd sleep talking as he moved in the blankets.

"So now what?" Kuroo asked when the three of them got out of the room, sneaking around to go down to the kitchen. But first, they had to get to the cafeteria.

There were ministry people that were guarding the cafeteria, which Kuroo thought was extra suspicious because that meant the Minister was probably expecting students to do this one day.

"How are we gonna-""Are you a wizard or what?" Bokuto cut Asahi off, nudging Asahi on his side. "Take your wand out already."

Bokuto still didn't have his wand back, which wasn't a surprise since they weren't even allowed to use them. It begged the question, why not just confiscate everyone's wand from the get-go? Kuroo knew the answer.

They were being tested.

"Oh for fucks sake," Kuroo groaned when Asahi couldn't do it, pointing his own wand to the guards. " _Stupefy!_ " In an instant the guards froze and dropped unconscious, giving the three of them enough time to sneak in and get some food then leave very quickly.  
The rush, Kuroo hated to admit, was thrilling.

"There's a lock," Bokuto nodded his head at Kuroo, Kuroo already taking his wand out and pointing it at the big chained lock on the door. There was no way any normal person could get through this without a key, and even though Kuroo might be sacrificing his magic privileges, in the moment it was the smartest option. What kind of wizard doesn't use magic anyway?

" _Alohomora_." The door easily unlocked, the three of them getting into the kitchen easily - of course, with the help of a little magic.

"Hey! It's a party!"

Apparently, Bokuto wasn't the only genius with ideas.

Semi was cooking noodles on the stove, a package of frozen dumplings waiting it's turn, Tendou and Sugawara were sharing a bowl of ice cream (Tendou obviously was the one who greeted them) and Iwaizumi was leaning against the counter, surprisingly not eating anything.

Kuroo's jaw dropped at how calm they were and the fact they were even in the kitchen in the first place.

"Ho-How..." Kuroo stuttered, Bokuto already panting like a dog at Semi and asking him for some noodles while Asahi broke as well and raided the fridge for some food. "How did _you_ get here?"

Tendou grinned at them while Sugawara wiped his mouth of ice cream. "Tendou can Apparate," he explained, Tendou waving a stuffed penguin in his hand, blue and weirdly had the same expression as Tendou. "Dunno how he knew what this place looked like. He won't say. Oh, and we did a Silencing Charm so no one would wake up. Didn't you do that too?" Tendou winked making Kuroo flinch a bit, giving him a look but he didn't even bother asking anymore questions.

"Come on, let's feast!" Tendou laughed, giving the rest of the ice cream to Sugawara as he joined Asahi at the fridge. "There's some meat in here. Semi cooks good barbecue. I've never tried it before, but doesn't he look like he could?" 

Iwaizumi had his arms crossed, leaning against one of the kitchen counter's, which sort of surprised Kuroo. "Iwaizumi," Asahi was the one to say something. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Iwaizumi looked up at Asahi, his hard expression softening as he shook his head. "No. I'm, uh, full.""Full from what?" Bokuto snorted, scavenging the cupboards and taking out chocolate bars, giggling to himself. Right now, it was like Christmas to them. Kuroo was also putting food into his mouth, of course, saving some chocolate bars for the other Gryffindors as well.

"He _is_ full," Tendou answered before anyone else could say anything, even Iwaizumi himself. "Full of lies and deceit and bullshit. Am I missing anything else?" Tendou looked back at Sugawara, who wasn't saying anything, but wasn't denying either. Iwaizumi scowled, but he didn't even fight back.

Which obviously made Kuroo suspicious.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bokuto seemed uninterested as he shared a bowl of noodles with Semi, Asahi as well getting some packages, probably for the other Hufflepuffs and his sister.  
Kuroo had his eyes focused on Iwaizumi, he couldn't seem to remember food.

"Iwaizumi has been dining with the higher-ups," Tendou spat out, making Iwaizumi flinch. "Our poor souls aren't good enough for old geezer Minister Faiji, are we? Iwaizumi would know, _wouldn't you_?""I told you, it's not that simple!" Iwaizumi finally burst out, clenching his fists. "I-I can't remember it all, okay? One minute I'm in there, the next I'm out. I swear, I try to do something every time I'm with him, but then I end up-"

There was noise outside. Everyone in the kitchen froze.

" _Someone Stupified them, sir. I told you, the students here are strong. My money's on the mudblood with hunter parents."  
_ " _Hush now. Don't want to give them a fright."_

A voice that was recognizably the Minister's and the other probably one of his workers. There was the sound of a key jangling around, a sound that Kuroo knew was supposed to mock them. A sound that was giving Kuroo a sense that Minister Faiji did know exactly what was happening, and he was probably enjoying himself as the seconds passed and the key turned in the lock.

A sound of a warning. A sound that was meant to hold power over them, no matter how pathetic the sound was - and it was humiliating.

"Shit-" Tendou stuck the penguin out, readying everyone to Apparate, Semi did a spell to get rid of everything, much to Bokuto's disappointment. "Everyone, hold on!" Sugawara, Semi and Iwaizumi were holding onto the penguin, Sugawara stopping Tendou to wait for Bokuto, Asahi and Kuroo.

"Wait," Kuroo said in a state of panic, trying to stuff his pockets with food. "Wait, we need to get for-for Terushima and-and Hinata. Lev loves these things-""We don't have time!" Tendou hissed, hearing the turn of the second lock already clicking.

Mocking them. Humiliating them. A rusty piece of metal had such an effect on them. 

"Come here, Kuroo.""But-But-" Kuroo gulped as he looked at the door, looking around the room. He had to get some food for the rest of them, even just a little bit. "You guys go! I'll be fine on my own!"

The third lock clicked open and now, there was only a turn of the doorknob left. Kuroo felt his breathing go heavy as all of them looked at him like he was crazy, Tendou would have probably left by now if it weren't for Sugawara.

"Please, Kuroo," Bokuto begged, watching the door anxiously. "We can always come back."

No, they couldn't. This was already a disaster and they did everything they could. Every second was precious right now, Kuroo trying his best to hold as much packaged food as possible, but he knew it wasn't enough.

Because he wasn't only thinking about the Gryffindors. What about the Ravenclaws? Yaku purposefully got suspended for Lev, and Lev wouldn't hesitate sharing what Kuroo gave him to Yaku. Lev needed to eat a lot though, so he had to get double for him.  
Ennoshita, another Ravenclaw who's been helping Tanaka with his homework and gave Kuroo a lot to be thankful for because that was one stone off his chest and even though he still couldn't breath, he could at least be at peace knowing Tanaka was doing work.  
Or the Hufflepuffs. Asahi got food, but did he get enough? Hinata would want to get something for Natsu, and Yachi had a good appetite, didn't she? Aone was a big guy, he needed lots of food.

"Kuroo, come _on_ ," Sugawara hissed, the door cracking open. "It's not a big deal! Let's go!"

Daichi gave Kuroo one job. And right now, he felt like this was a test and he was failing hard.

"Kuroo-" Kuroo reached his hand out at the last second, dropping all the food and taking the stupid stuffed penguin. Tendou Apparated them back to the Slytherin boy's room, all of them feeling dizzy, but waking up no one since there was still the Silence Charm.

Kuroo felt sick all of a sudden, he had to hold his stomach and lay down.

"You did what you could," Bokuto whispered, patting Kuroo's back, trying to console him but it wasn't working. Kuroo felt like shit. "They'll understand. It's not like this was your job."

But it _was_ Kuroo's job. Daichi gave it to him, and Kuroo knew if Daichi was here he would know what to do. It pissed him off to admit it, but Daichi really was a good leader and deserved the respect he got.

"Don't beat yourself up," Iwaizumi hit him on the back before going to his blanket at laying down. "There's always tomorrow."

The words were supposed to make him feel better, but at the end, even the thought of Kenma waiting for him to come home wasn't making him feel better.

"I think I'll stop growing if I keep eating like this," Lev groaned, rubbing his stomach as he laid on the ground of the Slytherin boy's room. The next morning surprisingly none of the group involved the previous night was called down, nor was it talked about. No one brought it up or suspected why, just accepting that they would hear of it in the future and until then would pretend it never happened.

"That's a good thing," Hinata scoffed, tossing a deflated ball up and down as a pass time. It was the weekend and everyone knew what that meant - they were waiting for their phone call.

"You gonna call Kenma?" Bokuto asked, sitting beside Kuroo with a pillow, hugging it tightly. Kuroo sighed loudly, not responding because this time, he wasn't so sure.

He's called Kenma these past few times, but each time they talked they couldn't seem to get a conversation going. Kuroo wanted to explain the situation to Kenma, but according to literally everyone else in the Gryffindor house every time they tried to say something about their interesting school of theirs the ministry supervisors would cut the call.   
Typical.

So it ended up Kuroo not being able to talk about much, and Kenma obviously wasn't going to initiate too much topic conversation, so their calls were only about 5 minutes. The only good part was when the phone call ended and Kuroo could hear the soft 'I love you' on the other end. That might've been the only thing getting him through the weeks.

"What about Akaashi?" Kuroo asked, making Bokuto shift slightly. It was the same with Bokuto, only Bokuto actually had long conversations about nonsense with Akaashi every time. Kuroo wished he could do that, but he felt like Kenma would just hang up if he was being too stupid.

"I wanna tell him about, you know," Bokuto waved his hands around, silently saying 'everything'. "But, I don't know. With his dad...even if I get the chance would he even believe me?"

'Yeah, because he's literally obsessed with you,' Kuroo wanted to say, but he held back. "They'd probably cut you off before you have the chance," Kuroo huffed, Bokuto nodding sadly beside him. "It's fine. Just hearing Akaashi's voice makes me feel like I can do anything."

And Kuroo felt the same way with Kenma. He wanted to hear Kenma again, whether he was scolding Kuroo, telling Kuroo to go away, crying to Kuroo, asking Kuroo when they were gonna fuck, scoffing at Kuroo, pushing Kuroo away, pulling Kuroo closer - Kuroo wanted Kenma.

But Kenma was fine by himself. He didn't _need_ Kuroo, did he? He was independent and fierce, and that was what Kuroo loved about Kenma.

And that was what convinced Kuroo that what he was about to do was okay.

"Kuroo Tetsurou," one of the ministry members called out, Kuroo already standing ready. "Your turn for a phone call."

The ringing in Kuroo's ear was making him anxious as he stood by the phone, holding the wire to his chest. It was at the fifth ring when Kuroo was close to losing hope, but then finally there was an answer.

" _Hello?"_ The warm voice washed over Kuroo's body, making him choke up, but he promised himself he wasn't going to. This was an important phone call and Kuroo couldn't waste it.

"Dad!" Kuroo cried out, a little too eagerly, but god did it sound so nice to hear him again. To know his dad was safe, to know he wasn't being targeted too. Of course, Kuroo's dad was a pure blood technically, but that didn't mean the ministry cared.  
He was glad to confirm his father's safety though.

" _Tetsurou-kun! Hey, how's the new school? Your headmaster sent a letter to everyone. I thought you would use the phone call for Kenma or something. You can just write to me, you know?"_ Kuroo inhaled sharply, wishing it were that easy to 'just write'.

"Yeah, dad, I was just...you know, I was just a little homesick. I wanted to hear your voice for a bit," Kuroo breathed out, feeling his hand shake as he held the wire connected to the wall. His dad laughed on the other end, another noise that made Kuroo's body feel warm all over, like he was enwrapped in a big hug or a fuzzy blanket.

" _What are you, 8? You missed your dad that much?"_ Kuroo's dad joked, actually making Kuroo laugh as well, but Kuroo could feel the tightness in his throat as his next words escaped. 

"Dad, actually-actually," Kuroo coughed, trying to hold in a sob. "Actually, I have a favour. Dad, can I ask you for a huge favour? It's okay if you say no!" There was silence on the other side and some shifting, Kuroo's stomach tightened.

" _Of course, Tetsurou. Is everything okay? You don't sound so good."_ Kuroo let out a forced laugh, nodding his head even though his dad couldn't see it. Every molecule in his body was heating up, his face was red and Kuroo knew even if he couldn't see it. His fist hit the wall lightly, feeling himself cringe inwardly as the silence between him and his dad tensed up. He could hear his dad about to say something else, but Kuroo slipped before so there wouldn't be anymore questions about how Kuroo was doing.

"Can you-" Kuroo had to take a deep breath, his cry letting itself without his control. "Can you send me money? Muggle money, I need-" Kuroo put a hand over his mouth, his whole body shaking as he felt the tears starting to fall. He felt small, so small and he just wanted to be home with his dad right now and tell him everything that was stressing him out right now, tell his dad he could relax because Kuroo was leaving Hogwarts next year and he would get a good job to pay off his dad's debt double time.   
Kuroo felt pathetic right now. The Earth was a disk being flung around and Kuroo was in the middle, letting himself be thrown like a doll.

"I'm so sorry."

Kuroo sobbed, hitting his head softly on the wall and clutching the fabric of his shirt. "I'm so sorry, dad. I-I need money. I-I can't tell you for what, bu-but it's not anything bad! I'm so sorry, dad, just this once. Just, any amount is fine! I'm so, _so_ sorry."

The silence on the other end was making Kuroo anxious, knowing what his dad would say and that just made him feel even worse. His dad has done so much for him and this was his repayment?

Daichi gave him a job and Kuroo failed. He used to be a good son, but now he failed that much too.

" _What're you crying for?"_ His dad laughed on the other end, making Kuroo inhale sharply. _"Of course I'll send you money. What's a dad for, yeah? Oh come on, Tetsurou, don't cry. It's not that big of a deal, alright? Shh, don't be like that, you're making me freak out. You're usually stronger than that, aren't you? Come on, Tetsu-kun, stop crying."_ Kuroo knew his dad was just trying to be supportive, but it only made him sob harder.

  
" _I'll send an owl, alright? I'm gonna believe it's for Koutarou-kun's birthday because I trust you, alright? Don't apologize, Tetsurou. What kind of father would I be if I can't even do this much for my son. It's a little insulting that you're crying over something like this, you know?"_

It wasn't his dad's fault. If his stupid mother didn't do this to them, didn't put his dad into debt then Kuroo wouldn't be sobbing to ask for money, he wouldn't have to lower his pride for a few dollars, and maybe he would be able to make himself stable enough to take care of all the Gryffindors just like Daichi asked him to.  
Maybe Kenma would trust Kuroo a little more. Maybe Kenma could rely on Kuroo a little more.

If it wasn't for his stupid mother. His stupid, selfish, disgusting mother.

His _muggle_ mother.

"I'm sorry dad," Kuroo sobbed once more, his forehead against the wall, his arm draping over his head. "I'm so sorry. I'll pay you back one day, I promise-"" _Enough with that nonsense!"_ His dad actually sounded slightly irritated now, making Kuroo shut up. " _I'll send you money if you stop apologizing. It's making me think you don't want it."_

Kuroo didn't want it. He just needed it. He would buy food at that useless convenience store and feed the whole house, taking care of them like he said he would, and maybe get a proper meal out of it. Kuroo didn't want the money, but that was the safest way to do things properly here, especially not with Minister Faiji breathing on everyone's neck.

"I love you, dad," Kuroo managed to say between hiccups, his tears wetting the collar of his shirt as they fell. "I-I don't want anyone else as a dad. I promise, I love being your son. I-I want to be a good son. I'm so sor-" Kuroo cut himself off before he apologized again.

Whatever it was, the emotion in him poured out and now he felt like he could pour his heart out too. Words he wouldn't say on a normal day, words he's been holding in.

It wasn't the only thing on Kuroo's mind, but it was a start.

" _Don't worry about it,"_ his dad said again, this time his voice was soft and sincere, Kuroo gasping between cries, wiping his cheeks and eyes. 

All this, and why? Because of a mother that wasn't there for him? Or because of his mother.

Muggle. Kuroo wasn't a muggle. He sure felt like one now though.

" _Go call Kenma already, yeah? Maybe he'll calm you down. I'll send the owl now, alright? Koutarou-kun's birthday is soon, isn't it? Hopefully I can send the money in time, but you can tell him it was a split gift between us. I have to go now, Tetsurou-kun, but I'll talk to you later, okay? I love you too, son."_

Kuroo hung up with a loud slam, punching the wall. He could feel his wand pressing to his thigh, but it was useless to him right now. No amount of magic was going to get him out of this, not alone.

Kuroo really wished he tried calling Kenma, because that phone call no one came in to see if Kuroo was done.


	21. Bokuto

Date : September 20 1997

Time : 12:30 PM

Current Location : Slytherin Room

Mission : Celebrate a birthday without Akaashi. No matter how badly it hurts.

" _Happy birthday dear Bokuto-san~! Happy birthday to you~"_

Everyone cheered, and although it wasn't much, Bokuto was still happy and grateful. Kuroo somehow managed to get money to buy some treats from the convenience store that was on school property. It was one of those small packaged cookie cakes and Kuroo bought a whole lot of them so all of them could have a piece at least, while Sugawara got some candles and lit them for Bokuto to blow.

"Make a wish, Bokuto-san!" Hinata clapped excitedly, Bokuto closing his eyes and putting his hands together as he thought about his wish.

Last year, him and Akaashi celebrated his birthday together and it was his favourite thing ever. He thought every birthday from the minute he started dating Akaashi would be with each other, but he guessed in reality, it might've not been the case forever.

Akaashi made him a cake, and to this day he hasn't asked if he did it by hand or using magic. Using magic seemed much more convenient for someone like Akaashi, right? Why bother with hand making it when you could poof it up and even make it Bokuto's favourite flavour.

What did Akaashi get him last year? There was the latest edition in 'Quidditch Weekly' that Bokuto liked collecting. A sweater as well, and he was sure Akaashi had a matching one. Also, they even went to a nice restaurant after headmaster Akaashi allowed them a free pass over the weekend to go out to Hogsmeade together for a birthday date.

Bokuto must have taken last year for granted.

"Okay! I have a wish," Bokuto said loudly so everyone would stop talking and he could blow his candles out. Kuroo, of course, took a Polaroid as he blew them out, closing his eyes. It was just one candle, but Bokuto believed it would have as much power as it would if it were 16 of them.

"Woohoo!" Everyone cheered as Bokuto blew it out, Bokuto smiling and clapping everyone. There was enough of the cookie cakes for everyone to have a half, and everyone savoured every bit of it. Kuroo bought Bokuto more though, and even though Bokuto wanted to eat it all he made sure to offer it to everyone else too.

"No, no. It's Bokuto-san's birthday!" Lev looked like he wanted to take it, but quickly pushed it to Bokuto, Kuroo's extra snacks still in Bokuto's hand by now. Even though he did want to eat it all too, Bokuto wanted to make sure no one was left too hungry. He was one of the eldest here, wasn't he?

"Bokuto, don't worry about it," Sugawara insisted as Bokuto offered the Slytherins as well. "You can have it all. We'll wait for our birthdays to get such nice treatment from Kuroo."

Hesitantly, Bokuto nodded and started eating bites of the cookie cake, the full thing being able to fit in his mouth, but he wanted to savour it like everyone else was. Kuroo also bought him other snacks like Pocky and a small bag of brownies, but he decided to save it for later. Hopefully the ministry people wouldn't confiscate them.

"How is it?" Kuroo asked, and he probably didn't mean to make Bokuto think about Akaashi when he asked. 

Bokuto's mind washed with waves of Akaashi and he couldn't help but think about what Akaashi was doing that moment. Was he celebrating for Bokuto right now? Was he thinking about Bokuto too? Was Akaashi trying to fight for Bokuto to come back?  
Did Akaashi know that Bokuto was in a living hell right now and needed to be freed or else he was going to lose it?

"Akaashi..." Bokuto looked down at the blown candle, his eyes foggy. What did he wish for again?

"Akaashi..." Bokuto's eyes watered without his consent and without even realizing it he was crying. "Akaashi," Bokuto sobbed, the whole room getting quiet as Bokuto started to get louder, wailing to Kuroo as Kuroo pulled him in for a hug, rubbing his back.

"I miss Akaashi!" Bokuto cried into Kuroo's shoulder, Kuroo nodding and muttering soft 'I know's as he tried to calm Bokuto down, but everyone knew it would take a while.

"Akaashi! I-I miss Akaashi," Bokuto hiccuped, trying to get up from Kuroo's shoulder, but Kuroo pulled him back down. "I know. We all miss Akaashi.""No! I miss Akaashi so m-much!" Bokuto gripped the front of Kuroo's shirt tightly, making a fist. Everyone watched, but looked away when Kuroo gave them a look, telling them to ignore and act normal.

"I know," Kuroo sighed, patting his back, even Tendou was wary to come near them. "I know."

It took a few hours before Bokuto calmed down, but his eyes were still red as he sniffled in the corner, crouched and balled up into a little slot of depression. Kuroo usually left him alone when he was acting up, but for some reason now Kuroo was sitting next to him, reading a book.

"Are you gonna visit your parents this year?" Kuroo asked once Bokuto was completely silent. The question caught Bokuto off guard, but he managed to shake his head.

"I don't think I can even transform without being caged."

Bokuto hated it here. He hated the fact that when he slept he always woke up with someone's body part on him. He hated that he ate like a prisoner when he did nothing wrong. He hated that he hasn't done proper magic in weeks, and his wand was still in the possession of the ministry (Akaashi bought him that wand!). He hated that this was all because of muggles even though it was just a fraction of muggles.

He hated that he was separated from Akaashi.

"Yeah, I wouldn't risk it," Kuroo agreed with a sigh. Bokuto knew Kuroo has been having a hard time too, trying to keep everyone together and organized, and even though Bokuto wasn't a big help, he at least didn't want to be too much of a burden.

Sometimes though, Bokuto couldn't help his immaturity.

"I want to see Akaashi..."

Kuroo sighed louder, putting his book down and looking at Bokuto, raising an eyebrow. "What are you thinking of doing?"

It was too easy, Bokuto thought about it the second the separation was announced when he was planning how he was going to still see Akaashi through the school year.   
Turn into an owl and fly to him from night to night.

"Nothing," Bokuto shook his head. "It's impossible in our situation, don't you think?"

Kuroo didn't say anything in response because they both knew that was right. Transforming into an animal and running away, it was impossible when the school was charmed with things that Bokuto and Kuroo knew and didn't know. The Minister was trying so hard - or barely was trying which was scarier - to keep the muggle borns muggle.

Even though they weren't muggles. They were muggle _born_.

"Yeah," Kuroo agreed with a quiet voice and a short nod, opening his book up again. "Impossible."

Terushima had a brother who loved him very much. Loved him enough to send him money. And since Terushima was a good friend, he used the money to buy Bokuto a gift for his birthday.

An odd gift, but a gift nonetheless.

"How did you get this?" Kuroo asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Terushima, Bokuto, Kuroo and Asahi were in the Gryffindor room, which they haven't been in together in a while, but since the Hufflepuff girls were all in class they were able to be in there for the day.

"They didn't ask me my age," Terushima insisted, pushing the paper bag into Kuroo's hand, Bokuto looking at it curiously, still quite unsure what it was, but had an idea. Asahi as well was peering behind Kuroo's shoulder.

"I paid for it, yeah? Just take it, won't you?" Terushima whined, making Bokuto hold it since Kuroo wasn't taking it. "I know you'll all love it! It's something that all birthdays need. I would've brought for Oikawa's party, but Iwaizumi was way too scary," Terushima grinned and winked and before Kuroo could throw it back at Terushima, Terushima left the room.

"That dumbass!" Kuroo huffed, snatching the paper bag from Bokuto and looking into the bag. "What's he think we're gonna do with this? Honestly, this is stupid. We don't need this."

Kuroo placed the paper bag down, both Bokuto and Asahi picking it up to see the contents inside. Kuroo seemed a little way too worked up about this that it made Bokuto and Asahi both curious.

"Alcohol?"

Bokuto thought it was a cool gift. He's never tried alcohol before and just looking at it was making him kind of excited, but seeing how stressed Kuroo was about it he hid his excitement.  
He didn't agree with Kuroo right away though either.

"What was Teru thinking? Like, we're in a high school! A shitty high school that doesn't feed us and now we have to buy our own food with scraps of money, but come on! He _wasn't_ thinking! We have to throw it away even though this might be the one chance we get at fun. Alcohol isn't that even good, I think. Even though adults drink it all the time."

Bokuto could tell at that moment what was holding Kuroo back so much - he _did_ want to break the rules. It was just that he felt like he couldn't.

Which wasn't fair at all! Kuroo was still just a kid too, he couldn't just take the responsibility of a parent for no reason, especially when there was a bunch of kids to 'look after'. Bokuto knew Kuroo was responsible, and more capable than he was in a maturity sense, but that didn't mean Kuroo had to be perfect all the time.

Especially in their situation now. Kuroo didn't need to be an adult when there were adults around.

"You know," Bokuto took the bottle out of the bag, noting it was a light alcohol with no more than 15% in it. The name was in German so he couldn't read it, but Terushima seemed like a guy who just knew. "I heard they call this stuff 'giggle juice'," Bokuto raised an eyebrow at the other two, grinning at them. "Should we find out how accurate that is?"

Kuroo sputtered out flustered while Asahi looked at Bokuto with awe, his eyes shifting from Kuroo and Bokuto. "What are you saying? We can't drink this! It's-It's-" Bokuto popped open the bottle, smirking up at Kuroo.

It was 5 PM and no one was back in their rooms yet. Bokuto's birthday wasn't bad, but this would have made it ten times better and Kuroo knew that too. Asahi was whimpering between them, like a child between a fight with his parents.

"Isn't it suspicious?" Kuroo asked quietly. "That Teru got this so easily?" Bokuto shrugged, holding the mouth of the bottle to his nose and inhaling. "Who knows?" He smirked at Kuroo, Kuroo getting more enticed as Bokuto held the bottle to his lips. "Sure smells like alcohol to me."

It was Bokuto's birthday. How could Kuroo say no?

"Why do they call this giggle juice?" Asahi giggled, hiccuping as he leaned his head on Kuroo's shoulder. "It's not even that funny!"

Maybe it was their age, or perhaps because it was their first time, but one bottle shared between the three of them seemed to do the trick to get them all a little tipsy, even Kuroo and especially Bokuto.

"Finished? TeruTeru is so stingy! Shoulda bought us another!" Bokuto exclaimed, hitting the bottle on the ground. They were still in the Gryffindor room, the Hufflepuff girls not being back yet, but that was fine. No one needed to walk in them like this.

"AsaAsa-""You can't call me that!" Asahi giggled, his cheeks red and his hair out of his headband, falling around his face. "My name doesn't work like that!""AsaAsa! It's _my_ birthday! I can do what I want!" Bokuto reached out to take Asahi's wand, which Asahi let him do, watching in fascination as Bokuto held it out.

"My birthday! My birthday and I'm in this hellhole," Bokuto slurred out, swaying from side to side as he stood up. "I wanna go see Akaashi. Ah, watch this! Hey, hey, hey, Kuroo, watch this!" Bokuto pointed the wand at a table. " _Ducklifors!"_ In a flash, the table turned into a giant wooden duck, making both Asahi and Kuroo clap in awe.

"Woah," Kuroo huffed out breathily, his eyes distant from what was happening. "That was...pretty cool." Bokuto groaned, stomping his feet on the ground. "If only Akaashi saw that! He woulda loved it! He loves ducks. Oh no, he loves owls," Bokuto giggled, plopping back down on the floor and crawling to Asahi. "Hey, Asahi, you know I'm an owl? I can turn into an owl. Yeah, I'm registered to be an animagi, I'm a fucking owl and go 'hoot hoot' and shit." Asahi's eyes widened, but then he started giggling even more.

"Oh? That's nice. Means Noya is gonna be a lion!"

Bokuto laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling, everything all cloudy and jumbled. "Akaashi is so smart and pretty and good at everything. You know he tried skipping a grade? He's already skipped a grade! For one class though, but still. I can't even do my grade yet he's skipping a grade! Skip, skip, skip, skip," Bokuto hummed, moving his head side to side with a smile. "I wanna skip. You think we can skip? Skipping is good exercise."

Kuroo sniffled, Asahi having to lift his head from his his shoulder to look and see he was okay. Kuroo was in fact not okay, tears dripping out of his eyes, Asahi was quick to hold him.

"I miss Kenma!" Kuroo wailed loudly, balling his fists up and hitting his head on Asahi's chest. Asahi coaxed him, patting his shoulder. "I wanna see Kenma. Oh god, he's gonna hate me for this!"

Bokuto's mushed up brain flipped onto his stomach, going on all fours and grinning at the two of them. They were a bit busy with crying, but Bokuto's mind had a grand idea.  
Almost as grand as raiding the kitchen.

"You wanna see Kenma?" He didn't give Kuroo enough time to answer. "Then let's go see Kenma! And Akaashi, and Noya-kun! Let's go see Hogwarts!"

Kuroo looked up from Asahi's shoulder, glaring at Bokuto. "What're you talking back, fucktard, we can't do that! This school is basically confined! We're gonna get caught like how we almost got caught in the kitchen last time. And that was _in_ the school."  
"Keyword being _almost._ " Bokuto grinned, standing up, wobbling a bit but standing up nonetheless. Bokuto held out a hand to Kuroo, laughing at the two of them. "Are we wizards or what? You think a bunch of old shitheads are gonna stop us? We have something they don't." Bokuto paused for a long time, the silence between the three of them hanging.

"What do we have?" Asahi snapped, making Bokuto flinch and realize he didn't know either. "Uh, well, we have the, uh, power of friendship! Yeah, and, uh, and of love! So we need to use that all tonight or else we'll _die_!" Bokuto exaggerated, falling on the floor and pretending to die. Kuroo and Asahi watched him as Bokuto cracked an eye open to see their reactions.

Kuroo looked at Asahi and Asahi looked at Kuroo. Both of them shrugged then looked back at Bokuto. "Alright."

Leaving the school was not as hard as they thought. They all stumbled out the back doors later that evening, climbing over the fence that surrounded the yard and fell onto the pavement. Asahi caught Bokuto while Kuroo face planted on the ground.

"Now what?" Kuroo groaned as he stood up, wiping his face and walking with the three of them on the sidewalk. The cold air hit their faces, sobering them up a bit but Bokuto's mind was still dizzy, and the street lights were making it worse.

This was the first taste of freedom they had in the last 2 weeks. Should they be screaming around that they were being held hostage? No, but Bokuto wanted to. No one was in the street though, not a car in sight.

Was this an abandoned town or something? Because it looked a lot like one and it was giving Bokuto the chills. "Shit," Kuroo cursed, holding onto Asahi. "How do we get to Hogwarts anyway?"

Asahi looked scared shitless, his face quivering and his whole body shaking, but Bokuto blamed it on the cold. "Guys, ma-maybe we should go back to the school. It's really dark out here and I don't think-""Fuck that school!" Bokuto screeched, making Asahi flinch but it was Asahi's own fault for even making such a suggestion. Go back to that hell house? Fuck no! 

"Yeah. Fuck school!" Kuroo pumped a fist in the air, stumbling into Asahi's arms and getting caught by him, Asahi had to carry him a good few metres before they sat down on a curb.

Dirty, poor and slightly tipsy, the three of them looked out at the street with blank expressions.

"I hate myself," Bokuto groaned, putting his head between his legs and squeezing his knees inward. "Why did I think this was a good idea? Why did you guys agree to this?""Because fuck school!" Kuroo yelled into the empty street, one of the street lights flickering making Asahi whimper.

"I-I got excited when you said Noya. I thought we actually stood a chance out here," Asahi whispered, hiccuping as his voice cracked. "I can't believe we left the school. I can't believe we're off school property. We're gonna die out here!"

No one has brought up the easiness of leaving the school, nor how they didn't get caught by one of the ministry people. Their minds were still fused into one that it didn't even matter, at least they got out in the first place.

But where even was Hogwarts in relation to this place? Where was the train station? It felt like they were in a whole new town, a whole new city even though the streets looked the same.   
Could they call a taxi or something? 

"I got it!" Kuroo exclaimed, getting his wand out, Asahi quickly pulling Kuroo's arm back. "We can't do magic outside of Hogwarts!" Asahi hissed, but Kuroo waved him off, shaking his head. "Calm your dick, I got this."

Very confidently did Kuroo stick his wand out at the street, blinking slowly as they all waited. He didn't cast a spell, he didn't say fancy words nor did he flick his wrist to make a burst of light flash.  
Kuroo just....waited.

A big triple decker bus, violently purple, beeped as it drove down the rode. With a grin on his face, Kuroo put his wand away, chuckling to himself and his big brain. Bokuto patted him on the back as his jaw dropped, the big purple bus stopping in front of them. The doors opened themselves, a conductor coming out wearing the same shade of purple on his uniform.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport fer the stranded witch or wizard. We can take ye everywhere and anywhere, just stick yer wand out on the street and we've got ye covered. The name's Stan Shunpike and I'll be yer conductor for the evening. Where can I take ye lads this lovely evenin'?" The three of them looked up at the conductor, all with awe expressions, just in different ways.

"Hogwarts!" Bokuto shouted, making Stan Shunpike flinch, backing into the bus a bit. "Hogwarts! Can you take us to Hogwarts?!" Stan Shunpike nodded slowly, looking back at his driver, gulping as he looked back at Bokuto. "Er, we can..." he looked hesitant to let a bunch of strange looking teenagers onto the bus with him, but business was business.

"Hop on then! Ye have any bags or nothin', din'it?" Kuroo shook his head, going first on the bus, Bokuto after and Asahi last, still looking back at the ground and seeing if it was too late to take his words back. Bokuto pulled Asahi by the collar, wanting him to just get on the damn bus already.

"A bed!" Bokuto jumped on, hugging the sheets and burying his face in the pillows. He didn't care if other wizards have been on this bed, it felt so good after nights of being on hardwood floors.

"Why're ye lot not at Hogwarts tho'?" Stan Shunpike asked, rising an eyebrow at the three of them, smoking a cigar in his mouth and puffing it. "Yer supposed to be at school, no? Is no 'oliday yet!" Bokuto groaned as the bus started driving, being swayed side to side while still tipsy.

His body was not used to it.

"Oh, well, we transferred-" Kuroo started saying but Bokuto was holding his stomach and his mouth, stomping his foot at Kuroo to get his attention. Kuroo's eyes widened, looking around desperately while Asahi froze in fear and shock. "Do you have a bucket or something?!"

Stan Shunpike widened his eyes and nodded, pulling a bucket out of nowhere and handing it to Kuroo. He immediately put it under Bokuto's head while Bokuto started vomiting into it, Asahi rubbing his back to make sure he was okay.

"Transferred, eh?" Stan Shunpike chortled, opening his newspaper and reading it, probably deciding a bunch of kids weren't worth his time tonight. "Well, Hogwarts is the best wizarding school there is! Transferring...I'd understand why ye'd wanna go back every once 'n a while."

Kuroo was too busy tending to Bokuto and Bokuto was too busy vomiting in a bucket to really respond to that. After a few hauls, Bokuto stopped, reverting to spitting and making sure he got everything out.

"Do you guys carry toothbrushes?"

Hogwarts. It looked exactly the same way it did when they left, and Bokuto never thought homesickness was real until then.

How was it that it ached more looking at Hogwarts now that they've returned than it did when they left?

"Woah. We did it," Asahi breathed out in a state of panic, the Knight Bus long gone and leaving the three of them right in front of the big castle. Now that they were there, what were they supposed to do?

"We can't just walk in. Can we?" Kuroo asked in an airy breath, feeling a gust of wind leave him as he looked up. Hogwarts never looked so comforting, yet unwelcoming at the same time. It was like they didn't even belong there anymore, but they didn't know any other place either. Hogwarts was home, but why did it feel so foreign?

"Ravenclaw tower," Bokuto started walking, feeling adrenaline rushing through his veins once it processed through him. They were _here_. At Hogwarts, no other student has done this yet. They had an opportunity that might be their only one, and how were they going to use it?

Slightly drunk and lovesick, wanting to just see their boyfriends and get on with it. The thought of ratting out Minister Faiji came after, but right now Bokuto just wanted to find Akaashi.  
It was his birthday, goddammit.

"There! Oh god, there's their room. I know it is," Bokuto started to feel his heartbeat increase, looking up at one of the highest windows of the tower, the curtains closed, but Bokuto knew after flying to Akaashi's room so many times. "Throw something at it! A rock or anything!"

Kuroo looked around the ground to find a stick, throwing it in the air but it hit nowhere near the window, just landing back on the ground with a soft _thump_. Bokuto groaned, straining his neck as he looked up, squinting to see if at least any lights were on. He couldn't tell, so for all he knew Akaashi wasn't even in his room yet.

"Let's go to the Gryffindor tower," Asahi whined, trying to pull Kuroo with him but Kuroo just ignored him, looking up at the window and trying to come up with an idea on how to get up there.

Of course. Why didn't Bokuto think of it before? How dumb was he? Very, apparently, because he laughed at himself, face palming. "I'm coming, Akaashi!" Bokuto said, a little too loudly, Kuroo and Asahi shushing him quickly.

"Oh fuck, I think I'm gonna puke too," Kuroo groaned, putting his hands on Asahi's shoulders and hanging his head down. "Ugh, Bokuto, go up first. Shit, I'm gonna be sick. That Knight Bus wasn't good for my stomach." Asahi patted Kuroo's back as he began to pull a Bokuto, except the ground was his bucket.

Bokuto turned into an owl. Grey and fluffy, not caring if someone from the school saw him transform. Asahi was in awe, but Asahi wasn't going to report him or anything anyway.

He flew up to Akaashi's room, tapping on the window softly like how he always did, hooting softly in hopes that Akaashi would hear him.

And in a beautiful moment, the curtain opened.

Except it wasn't Akaashi. It was Nishinoya.

"It's a bird!" Nishinoya screamed, closing the curtain again, if Bokuto could scream back at him in that form he would have. He flapped his wings a few times, hooting louder and using his beak to bang on the window. He could hear shuffling around in the room, Bokuto waiting for another person to open the curtain, someone not Nishinoya at least.

In another beautiful moment, the curtain opened again. This time, Akaashi standing at the window, his eyes wide and face flushed.

"Bokuto-san?""Bokuto-san?!" Akaashi opened the window quickly, Bokuto could see Nihsinoya behind him with Kenma, all running to the window as Akaashi let Bokuto in. He flew onto the ground before transforming back into human, a wide smile on his face, opening his arms at Akaashi.

"Akaashi-""Bokuto-san!"

Akaashi ran to Bokuto, wrapping his arms around Bokuto's neck and squeezing him tightly, Bokuto hugged him back with an equal amount of strength, humming into his neck, inhaling his scent that he didn't realize he missed so much.

"Akaashi..."

Everything felt right again. Even if it was for a brief moment, Bokuto felt like the world was falling into place, nothing bad happened, they were normal and together and in love and the moment was never going to end. Bokuto didn't want the moment to end, not when he was reunited with Akaashi like this. His eyes closed as he engulfed himself in Akaashi's arms, letting himself be warmed up and loved, not thinking about how if they got caught then everyone would be facing consequences. Even if it was for a little bit, Bokuto didn't want to let go.

"Kuroo! You fuckface, I waited for your call!" Kenma screamed out the window, throwing down a big wax candle. "Go fuck yourself! Piece of shit!" He slammed the window closed, but Nishinoya opened it again, leaning outside and wailing, his legs dangling as he stuck half his body out, Kenma had to hold him so he wouldn't fall out.

"Asahi-san! Asahi-san, come here! Come up, please! Asahi-san!" Nishinoya let out a strangled cry, Kenma hissing at him that he needed to shut up or else they were going to get caught.

"How did you get here?" Akaashi asked, letting go of Bokuto but Bokuto didn't move an inch. "The Knight Bus."

Akaashi didn't ask any more questions, simply letting himself indulge in the warmth of Bokuto, and eventually pulling him down for a much needed kiss.

"How's your guys's new school?"

The six of them all ended up in Akaashi's and Kenma's dorm. Nishinoya was there just to hang out and was planning to sleep there anyway so he didn't mind. Everyone seemed more or less, happy about their reunion.

Nishinoya did not leave Asahi's side for a moment. He fit himself inside of Asahi's sweater, cuddled close to him, Asahi was embarrassed but everyone reassured him that it was fine, even Nishinoya himself. Every minute or so, Nishinoya would turn to kiss Asahi's chest, making Asahi a shade darker red.   
Kuroo and Kenma started off on opposite sides of the bed but they eventually ended up holding hands until Kenma finally caved and sat between Kuroo's legs, gripping his thighs and making him spread them more and more until he was snugged between them. If Bokuto bothered to check, Kenma was sitting on Kuroo's dick.

"Shit," Asahi surprised everyone with his swearing, especially Nishinoya who gasped and looked between Kuroo and Bokuto. "What the fuck did you do to him?""It wasn't us!" Bokuto cried out, Akaashi shushing him in case someone heard them outside. The walls weren't sound proof here, though sometimes students forgot that too.

"I think I lost 5 kilos," Kuroo sighed, wrapping his arms around Kenma and closing his eyes. "We haven't had a proper meal in so long."

Akaashi, Nishinoya and Kenma's eyes all widened, looking at their respective person in confusion. "What?"

It took Bokuto a moment to realize what exactly they were confused about, Akaashi blinking a few times and Bokuto looking back at him. They didn't know much about the new school, did they?

"Isn't it a replica of Hogwarts?" Kenma asked softly. "It's an exact copy and paste of Hogwarts. It's supposed to make you feel like you're at home away from home. Right?" 

Bokuto's jaw dropped, Akaashi nodding in agreement. Was this what they were telling people? Was this what headmaster Akaashi was telling everyone?

No. Was this what _Minister Faiji_ was telling everyone?

"Our school is a literal shit house with fucking magical body guards everywhere. I got my wand confiscated!"  
"And the food is shit. A rabbit eats more than us at this point."  
"Plus, they don't have room for all of us, so we had to sleep outside for a few nights. It's okay now though! We're all sharing a room together."

Nishinoya crawled out of Asahi's sweater, Kenma turned in Kuroo's legs and Akaashi unwrapped himself from Bokuto's arms. All of them were confused, but all of them seemed to believe them.  
And then that confusion turned to concern and anger.

" _What_?"

There were footsteps outside, all six of them freezing and realizing just how late it was. Curfew was around now and it must be house heads doing their rounds for the night.

Bokuto, Kuroo and Asahi all had to leave. Now.

"Write to me," Akaashi whispered, opening the window for them so they could climb out somehow. Did he not remember that they were 80 feet up in the air? "Write everything to me. Tell me everything that's happening.""It's not that easy," Kuroo told him, shaking his head. "We can't write to just anyone. We get monitored and they read out letters before they're sent out."

Akaashi kissed his teeth, the footsteps outside getting even louder. Kenma was pushing Kuroo to the window while Nishinoya was pulling Asahi, not wanting him to leave yet, but he had to.  
They all had to.

"Then when we call-""They cut the call before we can say anything," Bokuto said before Akaashi could suggest it. The best options weren't going to work, so they had to think of something else.

"Halloween," Nishinoya said suddenly, everyone nodding their heads slowly, waiting for him to continue. "On Halloween we can talk about this. But we need to talk about it privately, so..."

"What about the Whomping Willow?" Akaashi pitched in, oddly making Kuroo and Kenma still, side glancing at each other, but Bokuto didn't comment on it. "It's supposed to be closed off, right? No one's going to be there."

Kuroo cleared his throat, rolling on the balls of his feet. "Oh, that's not a good idea," he coughed, Kenma beside him nodding in agreement. "The Whomping Willow is a terrible, dangerous place. Asahi couldn't handle it, could you?" Asahi hesitated a bit, but with a look from Nishinoya he ended up shaking his head.

"I can handle it!"

Kenma sounded like he cursed, but everyone else was in agreement. There was a knock on Akaashi's dorm's door, making Bokuto, Kuroo and Asahi run to the window.   
"Alright! Halloween at the Whomping Willow! Now go!" Akaashi hissed, Kuroo going down first, then Asahi. Before Bokuto could transform, Akaashi held his wrist, putting a letter in Bokuto's hand, giving him a sweet kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"Happy birthday, Bokuto-san. I love you."

Bokuto didn't want to, but when the door opened he transformed into an owl and flew out the window, landing on the ground and transforming back where Asahi and Kuroo were waiting for him.

"Do we have to take the Knight Bus again?"  
"Unless you have another grand idea, then yeah."  
"Well shit."


	22. Asahi

Date : September 21 1997

Time : 8:37 AM

Current Location : Boy's Shower

Mission : The world isn't scary. You're scary. You're a bad bitch, scary as shit boss - so fucking own it.

"Is this what a hangover feels like?" Bokuto asked, holding his forehead, a smile spreading on his face. "This is nothing then! Alcohol isn't that bad."

Asahi didn't tell Bokuto that them having a third of a bottle each wasn't enough to get them fully drunk, or to get a real hangover like the adults did, but he did give him a weak smile and a chuckle. Kuroo as well seemed fine after last night after literally sneaking out and going to _Hogwarts._ A place they weren't supposed to be to begin with.

"Asahi?" Tendou poked his head in the showers, getting Asahi's attention, a towel still wrapped around his waist and a smaller one in his hair, rubbing it to dry himself off. "Asahi, your sister said she needs your help. She's in the Hufflepuff room."

Asahi sighed, nodding. "Alright, let me put some clothes on first."

Taking care of Osahi was something Asahi didn't mind doing, obviously, she was his sister anyway. But before this the type of 'help' he gave Osahi wasn't the same he would give his other sisters.

Until now, Asahi has helped Osahi with changing motorcycle parts, finishing her homework, stitching her up when she cut her leg after beating up the twin brothers down the street twice. Osahi wasn't someone Asahi thought to dote on before.

But Osahi was 13 now, and from what Asahi could tell, she was getting to that age.

"Osahi-chan still scares me," Bokuto whispered, Asahi turning and raising his eyebrows at him, but Bokuto shook his head and hands. "Not in a weird way! It's just, she's so Slytherin and you're so, well, Hufflepuff! She doesn't like eating with us either, she always sits alone."  
"Well, she might not be comfortable with a bunch of boys," Asahi offered, wanting to defend his younger sister's cold behaviour. "She is still a girl at the end of the day. Even if she doesn't act like the ones you're so used to."

Bokuto and Kuroo watched as Asahi left right after putting on a decent outfit, feeling like Bokuto said something wrong, but Asahi didn't confront him about it.

Very quickly did Asahi put his towel away in the Slytherin room where he was still staying after all this time, getting his books for the school day and then heading over next door to the Hufflepuff room where Osahi was. He knocked before going in, seeing his younger sister changed, a brush in hand and her hair wild and poofed up after what looked like a sad attempt at straightening it out.

"Nii-chan," Osahi whined softly, giving the brush to Asahi. He took the brush with a soft smile, nodding his head and motioning for Osahi to sit down before he carefully started brushing his sister's hair, gently getting the tangles out and making it as smooth as Asahi's.

"You have to learn how to do this yourself one day," Asahi commented as he divided Osahi's hair into three sections. "I can't do it all the time, you know that." 

Osahi kissed her teeth as she turned a page in her textbook, finishing her homework as he brother braided her hair, classes for them not starting for another 30 minutes. She shrugged, not moving her head so her brother could get the braids right.

"It hurts my arms to have them up for so long," she said as an excuse, but Asahi knew the feeling of having fingers combing through your hair was soothing. Nishinoya did it all the time.

"Are you okay here?" Asahi asked, making Osahi stiffen and clear her throat. It was a dumb question, no one was 'okay' here. Surviving, sure, but not exactly 'okay'. Even though Osahi hasn't said it, she probably felt guilty for taking a whole room from a house just because she was uncomfortable with a few boys around her. Luckily Asahi stepped in and made himself say he wasn't comfortable either.  
Still, now all the Hufflepuff boys had to share with the Ravenclaw boys because of her. She was thankful, but guilty.

"Are you?" She threw back, feeling Asahi braid down to the middle of her hair. "Aren't you missing someone?"

Osahi didn't make it a secret that she wasn't fond of Nishinoya, not because he wasn't a good guy or anything, but because Asahi already took care of three younger siblings and himself. He was so timid while Nishinoya looked like he could lift the world up and throw it to the moon.

Was that someone really suited for her brother?

"Very much," Asahi chuckled, tying the end of her braid tightly and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "But I don't make a big deal out of it. He's probably thinking of what we should do once we reunite again. So I have to be okay too so that when we see each other it's not a said reunion, but one that we'll make memorable."

He wasn't going to tell her how he snuck out. That wasn't very responsible, and no one has caught them yet (or they didn't call them out for it if they did get caught) so Asahi decided to keep quiet about it all together.

"I miss mom," Osahi said quietly, making Asahi still as well, listening to his sister and waiting for her to continue, her needing to have someone listen. "She wouldn't stand for this, I don't think."

Asahi got a lot of traits from his mom, so he could have corrected Osahi, but he chose not to. Actually, when it came to parents and children, perhaps it was more possibly that she would become more fierce and want to fight harder.

If Nishinoya were to have gone through this instead of Asahi, and Asahi found out, what would he have done? What would Nishinoya have done?

"You should write to mom," Asahi suggested, standing up and going in front of Osahi to make sure her hair looked good, making her stand as well so he could fix her uniform. "Did you write to your sisters? They probably want to hear from you too."

Osahi nodded, giving her book to Asahi, which Asahi took and looked at. "' _Shoujen Jump_?' Where did you get this?" Asahi asked, raising an eyebrow, knowing his sister wouldn't have been able to get this on her own and that she didn't own it before. She nodded her head to the doorway, like that was supposed to answer the question right away.

"Your friend Tendou-san. He lent it to me so that, uh, I could maybe start a conversation with some of the other kids," Osahi said sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck and fiddling with her braid. "It's kind of interesting though, so I read it all."

Asahi wasn't sure how he felt about his younger sister hanging around Tendou, but he told himself that it was nice Osahi was making friends. Even if they were a little creepy and used a stuffed penguin as a Port Key.

Classes, at first, Asahi thought he loved them. Just sitting there in a room, reading a book, writing a few papers and not anywhere near dangerous, scary magic. To him, it was a perfect situation.

Until about the second week, that was. And then he realized, it wasn't as a perfect situation as it seemed.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kogane was stopping everyone, pointing his wand out and trying to aim at the wooden duck - the one Bokuto transformed with Asahi's wand the previous night - so he could change it back into a table. He was telling everyone he learned a reverse spell and he wanted to try it for the first time, but Kogane has been standing there for an hour and the spell wasn't working.

"I swear, I learned it!" Kogane screamed, the other Gryffindors laughing because they thought Kogane just sucked, but Kogane genuinely looked frustrated, his face scrunching up and turning red.

" _Reverte!_ " A flash of light emitted from his wand, but once the band hit the duck, nothing happened. It looked like the wooden duck just absorbed the light up, not having any effect whatsoever.

All the other 4th years were teasing Kogane, telling him he might just not be the great wizard he said he wanted to be, or even that he was losing his touch. But Asahi and surprisingly, Iwaizumi were watching the whole thing unfold in front of them, their arms crossed and observing carefully.

"Kogane is a good wizard," Asahi said softly, watching as Kogane started to hit his wand on the palm of his hand, trying to do the spell again. "Kogane is a really good wizard."

Iwaizumi beside him nodded, his eyebrows furrowed as he watched Kogane try another spell. " _Aguamenti!_ " A weak stream of water left his wand, clean and drinkable, but not what Kogane was used to. Hinata was laughing hard while Lev clapped his back, wiping their tears as they watched Kogane sputter helplessly. "Aw, Kogane-kun, you need to get your wand checked, don't you?""He needs to get himself checked too!"

Maybe if they were at Hogwarts still, this would have been funny. Right now, however, in this sad sorry excuse of a school, Asahi had a gut feeling that there was more to this than just a bad day for an average wizard.

"How long has it been since you did a spell?"

Asahi had to think about it because he actually didn't know that well either. A proper spell? Probably not since the last school year, which was quite a few months ago by now.

"For me," Iwaizumi huffed, looking down at the ground now as Kogane was jumped on by Tanaka, the room roaring with laughter and telling Kogane it was okay. "I feel like it was yesterday. But I can't remember what spell."

This would be the second time Iwaizumi has told Asahi that he didn't remember something, and each time Iwaizumi looked like he was being serious. Not that Asahi wouldn't have believed him, but now he especially has been keeping watch over Iwaizumi these days, his confused looks as he returned to the Slytherin room after a meeting with Minister Faiji, his befuddled expressions as he left classes and after meals he looked slightly guilty and deranged.

Iwaizumi became his friend not too long ago, so of course Asahi would be worried.

"Next time," Asahi started saying, looking over at Iwaizumi with a serious face, not knowing how concerned he looked right now. "Come straight to me. I know I'm not the strongest wizard, but I want to know if there's anything I can do to help you."

Iwaizumi was shocked for a brief moment, lifting his head a little higher before he nodded firmly, making Asahi's chest feel lighter.

"Are those worms?"

Asahi caught Yamaguchi walking down the hallway with a big bucket, looking in and grimacing when he saw the pink tubes wiggling around in their slimy, dirty filth. Yamaguchi chuckled at Asahi's reaction, nodding.

"Yes. It's for Fireball."

The Minister's Phoenix has been Yamaguchi's project recently, and even though Asahi knew Yamaguchi loved taking care of magical creatures, Asahi couldn't help but as _why in the world_ would you want to voluntarily take care of a Phoenix.

"Come!" Yamaguchi said excitedly, nodding straight forward to Asahi. "Let's go feed him together. I know he'll like you!"

Even if Fireball liked him, Asahi wasn't too fond of Fireball.

The big bird was outside, flying around, Asahi confirmed that the school _had_ to be charmed if the Minister was allowing his very magical pet to fly around the school premise as a few kids threw worms at it. Fireball caught each worm with his beak skillfully, and due to not wanting to get his hands dirty (and not wanting Fireball to attack him) Asahi decided to let Yamaguchi do all the work for feeding.

"He's such an amazing bird," Yamaguchi said in awe as he looked up and watched Fireball flying around in circles in the sky, getting some fresh air along with Yamaguchi and Asahi. "I love their reincarnation stories. How each life to them is anew, but at the same time their old. You know, there's a myth that says the Phoenix remembers every single lifetime they've lived. And if your patronus is a Phoenix, you'll be able to remember your past lives as well."

Asahi has never heard of this myth, but he nodded and trusted an expert like Yamaguchi to know what he was saying.

"Phoenix's are supposed to be loyal. Right?"  
"The most loyal of them all," Yamaguchi smiled, nodding his head eagerly as Asahi mentioned it. "The song they sing will keep you stable, calm you down or cheer you up, and it's all according to your needs and will. A Phoenix is like a best friend that's too good to be true!" Yamaguchi laughed, throwing another worm into the air, Asahi watched as Yamaguchi fiddled with the brim of the bucket.

"Yamaguchi?" Asahi tried to look at his face, but Yamaguchi didn't even turn. "Is taking care of this Phoenix really something you enjoy doing?"

Without hesitation, Yamaguchi nodded. He lifted his arm up, letting the Phoenix rest down on his arm, stroking the head, it's feathers ruffling around as Fireball pecked Yamaguchi's hand with it's wide beak.

"Go on," Yamaguchi encouraged, holding the Phoenix forward for Asahi. "Pet him."

Asahi's hand shakily reached out, not expecting Yamaguchi to ask him to actually touch it, but Yamaguchi looked so excited when he saw Asahi attempting that he couldn't easily back away now. His finger stroked the head of the bird, Fireball nuzzling into Asahi's hand that it made Asahi calm down as well. Yamaguchi giggled softly, stroking his wing at the same time.

"Asahi-san," Yamaguchi called out softly, his smile warming up as the Phoenix affectionately nipped Asahi's finger. "Did you know Phoenixes can Apparate?"

Halloween seemed like years away even though it was just over a month until the big day. But Asahi missed Nishinoya so much that it was starting to feel like centuries. 

"So if we have a dance at around 7 PM, would that be too early after dinner? But if we make the dance 8 PM it might be too late for some students and they'll want to just hang out with friends. Ah, but the dance is something a lot of people requested for this party. I don't know anymore," Yachi sighed, straightening out her papers as she told Asahi the plan, not because he was on the committee or anything, but because Yachi needed to talk to someone about this and Asahi was a good listener. If Yamaguchi was maybe not with the Minister so much, he would have been here too.

"I would like to have a dance," Asahi offered a bit of advice, making Yachi perk up. "Really?""Yes. That would be a lot of fun." Nishinoya and him dancing was something Asahi always wanted to try, but was always too shy to ask, so this dance would be a perfect opportunity.

Feast. Whomping Willow. Dance. It sounded like a perfect plan.

"Do you even know how to dance?" Futakuchi snorted, in the Hufflepuff room because of Aone, and a few other Hufflepuffs as well who were spending their free time indoors. "You look like you'd step on your partner's feet all the time."

Asahi flushed, dropping his head a bit at the accusation, but he couldn't deny it either since he's never tried before. The thought of messing up the dance was embarrassing, he was already cringing at the thought. He couldn't mess up a dance with Nishinoya either though! Nishinoya was probably really good at dancing, like how he was good at everything else.

"You don't know how to dance, Asahi-san?" Yachi asked with wide eyes, making Asahi feel more embarrassed at it was brought more attention to. "Well, it's not like dancing is a life skill!" Asahi quickly defended himself, but other people in the room were chuckling as well.

"Oh, come on, you have to know some dances, don't you? What about _obon odori_?" Asahi thought about it before shaking his shyly with a nervous chuckle, even Futakuchi was surprised.

"It's not like we're doing traditional dances at the party," Futakuchi retorted, making Yachi flinch and scoot closer to Asahi. "I-I was just..." Yachi trailed off when she felt the stare of Futakuchi burning through her, Aone had to hit his arm to get him to stop.

"When I go to festivals I just take photos and videos of my sisters," Asahi admitted quietly, making all of them drop their shoulders and nodded in understanding, deeming the excuse worthy enough.

"But still!" Yachi insisted, standing up and putting her hands on her waist. "You should learn how to dance at least one that everyone knows! If not for you, then for Nishinoya-san."

Brining the name up, all of a sudden Asahi was more interested, looking up at Yachi and waiting for her instructions.

"First though, we need to find you a partner to practice with," Yachi tapped her chin, humming to herself as she looked around the room. None of the Hufflepuff boys were the height she was looking for, and Yachi herself was too short. For someone like Asahi, to have accurate practice was important or else when the actual moment came he would get nervous at the change and mess up.

"Someone who won't mind..." Yachi squinted, thinking hard, Asahi not really thinking about anyone in particular and more interesting in Yachi's thought process.

The moment Yachi snapped, Asahi gulped.

"Hinata-kun!" 

Hinata turned around, smiling when he saw Yachi, Asahi trailing behind her timidly. Hinata was in the Slytherin room with the other Gryffindors, playing a broken board game with the 4th years, and from what Asahi could tell Hinata was losing anyway so he didn't mind leaving the game.

"Hinata-kun, is it okay if you come with Asahi-san and I for a bit?" Yachi asked sweetly, some of the other Gryffindor boys turning their heads to look at her, Asahi had to instinctively go closer to her and make sure she wasn't getting checked out too much. Of course not because he liked her or anything, but he was used to it nowadays with Osahi, and has been with Nishinoya (of course because Nishinoya wanted to fight with people all the time, not just because he was being stared at provocatively).

"Oh, sure," Hinata told the other guys to put his pieces of the game away, going up to Yachi and Asahi. "Why? Are we doing something important?""Yes!" Yachi exclaimed excitedly, creating a domino effect and getting Hinata excited as well. "It's gonna be fun too! And Asahi-san really needs your help, so we really appreciate this!"

Did you know there's a spell to play music?

Yachi charmed her wand and started playing classical waltz music, clearing the middle of the floor of the Gryffindor boy's room where the Hufflepuff girls were staying, no other people there and just the three of them standing in the middle.

"What...did you need help with again?" Hinata asked, looking up at Asahi, Asahi blushing as he scratched the back of his head nervously. "Ah, well, Yachi-chan is planning to have a dance for the Halloween party, so-""A dance?!" Hinata asked in exclamation, his mouth wide open and his eyes sparkling at Yachi. She clapped in response with a nod, turning up the music from her wand.

"A dance! But Asahi-san doesn't know how to dance."  
"What? Actually?" Asahi laughed, and shrugged. He didn't say he didn't know how to dance, but went with it anyway because it wasn't like he was good at it either. And he would prefer to be in perfect condition for when he saw Nishinoya again.

"Can you Waltz, Hinata-kun?" Hinata nodded, giving Yachi a thumbs up. "Yup!" He popped the 'p' as he said it. "Natsu-chan saw it on TV so we learned together. So I can do the leading!"

From the knowledge Asahi had about waltzing, that meant Hinata would be the 'guy' in the dance. Before he could protest, Hinata took Asahi's hand and put the other on his waist, looking up at Asahi with a smile.

The height difference was scarily close to Nishinoya's, Asahi almost kissed his forehead.

"Relax your shoulders, Asahi-san." Asahi didn't even realize he was tensed up until Hinata pointed it out. "Spread your feet a bit more," Hinata tapped the inside of Asahi's foot, making Asahi spread them apart a little more. "Okay. Now what, Yaa-chan?" Hinata asked, turning to look at a very eager Yachi clasping her hands together and biting her lip to contain a squeal of excitement.

"1 and 2 and 3 and 4," Yachi instructed, Hinata moving his left foot forward, Asahi moving his right one back. "Good, now to the side." Hinata moved his right foot to the right, Asahi's left to the left. "And now back-""Ow!" Hinata screamed when Asahi accidentally stepped on his foot, Asahi gasping in shock and letting go, covering his mouth as Hinata held his foot with a hiss.

"Hinata!" Asahi exclaimed, crouching down to see if he was okay. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Hinata hit his foot a few times before shaking his head, putting his foot down again and taking Asahi's hand with a bright smile, Asahi was impressed with how fast he got over it.

"It's fine!" Let's keep going!"

And that was how Hinata and Asahi ended up dancing for an hour straight, Asahi learning how to follow instead of lead, learning how not to step on his partner's foot, and learning that the whole time, Hinata had in mind that Kageyama was going to be following instead of leading as well.

Now that Asahi thought about it though, Nishinoya would probably be the one to lead too anyway.

"Asahi..."

Iwaizumi was at the door of the Gryffindor room, watching Asahi and Hinata waltzing with Yachi conducting them, freezing as if he caught them doing something weird. Perhaps it did look a little funny seeing Hinata's small arm around Asahi's waist and Asahi's hand resting on Hinata's shoulder, both their elbows sticking out and dancing together as if nothing else in that school was happening.

"Oh, hello Iwaizumi," Asahi smiled, letting go of Hinata and was about to walk over to Iwaizumi but Yachi stopped him. "Wait! You have to bow after dancing! That's rude if you don't." Asahi nodded in understanding, going back to Hinata and bowing formally, but suddenly Hinata grabbed his hand and kissed it. Gasping in shock, Asahi pulled his hand back, making Hinata flinch.

"Eh? That's what they do in TV! Is that wrong?" Yachi laughed, clapping happily as Hinata kept asking her if he did something wrong. Asahi took the opportunity to turn around and go over to Iwaizumi, seeing him look a little confused, but mainly distressed.

It took a moment for Asahi to realize what Iwaizumi called him for.

"I was in there. I swear, I walked in," Iwaizumi whispered, pulling Asahi in the boy's bathroom and locking themselves in one of the stalls for maximum privacy. It was bit of a tight fit, but Asahi didn't feel uncomfortable and it looked like Iwaizumi didn't mind either.

"I walked in, he asked if I was hungry, then I walked out. But an hour passed. So I know I had to do something else but eat," Iwaizumi pressed on, making Asahi ponder on it intensely as well.

"Have you told anyone else yet? Tendou or Kuroo or Sugawara?" Asahi asked, thinking that more people needed to know about this, but to his surprise Iwaizumi shook his head.

"I tried telling Tendou, but he said he couldn't get involved easily and told me to tell Sugawara. I don't know, I thought Tendou would have wanted to do something, but he just...rejected the idea." It made Asahi confused too because Tendou seemed to want to get out of this place the most out of everyone, so naturally they would assume he would take any chance to debunk the Minister.  
Odd indeed, but Asahi put that thought to the side for now.

"Sugawara?""He wants to play it safe for now," Iwaizumi sighed. "He said to just wait for now. I thought my concern was going to be having to control him, but he's being quiet too."

Asahi felt like it had something to do with Daichi, the two of them probably agreeing to wait this out together, so he understood, but Sugawara would have been a good person to contribute to this too. 

"Kuroo?" Iwaizumi opened his mouth then shook his head slowly. "Why haven't you told Kuroo?" Iwaizumi almost looked shocked that Asahi would ask the question, but Asahi assumed that Kuroo would have been the first option. A responsible leader who was also a talented wizard? Why wouldn't you go to him?

"Because I'm telling you," Iwaizumi replied, making Asahi shocked this time. "I trust Asahi a lot. You know that, don't you?"

Asahi in fact, did not.

"If we skip dinner would they even notice?"

Iwaizumi and Asahi both froze, hearing another two people walk into the washroom. Asahi's heartbeat sped up, not wanting to get caught, especially in such an awkward position with Iwaizumi and Asahi in a stall together like this.

"Suck me off," Iwaizumi hissed, pushing Asahi down to his knees, making Asahi's eyes almost bulge out of it's sockets, trying to stand back up but Iwaizumi was strong, forcing him to kneel down.

"No, don't-just-" Iwaizumi whispered harshly, holding Asahi's shoulders as they waited for the two people walking the bathroom to say something else to indicate what they were doing and where they were in the bathroom.

From Asahi could tell, they were kissing.

"Wait, Lev-" Yaku's voice whispered breathily as Lev's mouth made sloppy wet sounds that made Asahi cringe a bit. He felt like they shouldn't be listening to this. Did they even check if the bathroom was empty before they started making out?

"Lev, come on, I'm being serious. Listen to me," there was a few thumps that sounded like a hit. "I need to tell you what I remember.""But I haven't kissed you in so long," Lev whined, Asahi could hear him stomping his feet. "Just a little bit longer."

There was a pause before the sound of intense making out came back, Asahi closing his eyes as his neck turned red. He looked up to watch Iwaizumi, thinking that he would be embarrassed as well, but instead he had his ear pressed against the door of the stall, as if there wasn't huge gaps under the door and on top of them. They could hear everything perfectly clear, honestly.

"Okay, okay, Lev, baby," Yaku let out airily, moaning softly, Asahi clenched his fists and prayed that kissing was as far as they would go. "Listen, come on. Lev, I'm gonna leave you here if you don't listen to me." Yaku's stern voice seemed to do it because all of a sudden there was silence in the bathroom.

"Alright," Yaku said slowly, a few steps could be heard but Asahi couldn't tell what direction he was going. "I saw Minister Faiji again. And he kept going on about I think a Russian school and how the advanced classes are more for me," Yaku sounded like he was strained, trying to recall what happened to him. "He said I don't belong here, and that we could go together. That I could bring you home. And then..." Yaku sighed softly, "and then..." he kissed his teeth, and if Asahi could predict what happened next, Yaku was probably in Lev's arms right now.

"My home is here with Yaku-san," Lev said in a quiet voice. "Wherever Yaku-san is, I want to be. So don't think about-oh crap," there was a pause, Asahi flinching and straightening his back. Being on his knees for not even five minutes, yet he hurt so badly, it made Asahi wonder if people actually enjoyed doing this.

The silence was terrifying, but after a long pause, maybe 2 minutes of nothing, Iwaizumi gripping Asahi's shoulders tightly, the bathroom door opened and closed. Lev and Yaku left, leaving an awkward Iwaizumi and Asahi in the bathroom stall, but more than awkward, very very confused with more questions than answers.

"Mail! Mail's in!" One of the ministry people called out during breakfast, holding a few letters in their hand. They went from table to table, giving letters to different people, it looked like they were being a little more allowing since the amount of letters coming in had increased from previous days.

Or because it looked suspicious if a bunch of letters kept being sent, but there was no reply.

"Is there anything for me?" Yamaguchi asked, the ministry person nodding and giving Yamaguchi an envelope. For a moment Yamaguchi got excited but when his face fell quick when he saw the sender information.

"Why?" Asahi asked, Yamaguchi shaking his head with a sigh. "Oh, it's from my mom. Which I'm happy about, but," Yamaguchi shrugged with a helpless smile making Asahi nod in understanding.

Tsukishima must be a really good friend to Yamaguchi on other days for Yamaguchi to be so hung up on him.

"Azumane Asahi?" One of the people handing out letters handed one to Asahi, making his eyes widen and take the letter. This would be the first one he got in the past few weeks, but it wasn't like he was expecting one from anyone. He had the phone call and that was enough for him to be honest.

Asahi's eyes widened at the name of the sender, recognizing the messy handwriting before he even read anything else.

"Woah!" Yamaguchi smiled brightly when he saw Asahi's letter. "Open it! He probably worked hard on it if it's now he's sending it."

Asahi did want to open it, but after sneaking out and meeting Nishinoya (and the others), he was scared about what Nishinoya managed to write down. But if it passed inspection of the Minister, then perhaps it wasn't that bad, right?

So Asahi teared the envelope open, unfolding the letter. It was just a page long, which for Nishinoya was a lot, so maybe he did take a long time to write it. Unlike Asahi, Nishinoya never put a date on his letters so Asahi didn't know when he started writing it, but from the crinkles of the paper and the different thickness of strokes, it looked like Nishinoya stopped writing and came back to writing every so often with a new quill each time.

_Asahi-san_

_I don't know how long it will take for you to get this, but I just wanted to let you know how much I miss you, so even if you get this a month after I sent, and even if we've seen each other already, know that I still miss you a lot._

_You left just a few days ago, but I already really want to see you. I hope you feel the same way. Kuroo-san said he would take good care of you, and Daichi-san said not to worry, but I'm not worried! Because Asahi-san is really cool and ~~risponsable~~ responsible (Akaashi wrote that word) and I know he'll take care of lots of people away. Just don't forget to take care of yourself too._

_Is the new place cool? Tell Tanaka and them I saw hi. Kageyama is still sitting alone even though I try to get him to talk to some other people but he won't listen. But nowadays he's getting better! Did you know that he likes watching the sunrises? Now I have someone to wake up with me in the morning time. Even though he doesn't talk to me, I started watching the sunrises and sunsets with him. They remind me a lot of Asahi-san._

_I started talking to new people in different houses. Are you proud of me? I wanted to make sure when you come back that you'll be welcomed warmly (not sure if that makes sense, but Kenma said it did) and we can eat altogether as a family! Of course we'll sit with each other though. Halloween will be lots of fun!_

**_If and only if you were to visit me, Asahi-san, not saying you have or plan to because that would be against the rules and I know you would never do that, I would love that. Even if it wasn't for long, if I were to see Asahi-san it would make my heart so happy and the next morning I would fly all around the school very happy._ **

**_If and only if we were to plan to meet at the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts during Halloween to discuss some matters between us and us only, then I would also bring Sugawara-san. Why, you might ask in this hypothetical (word written by Kenma) situation? Because Daichi-san loves going to the Whomping Willow so much, and the more the merrier, right?_ **

**_If and only if during Halloween there would happen to be a Lunar Eclipse, I would also like to say that it would be very dangerous, so bring your wand if that were the case. Also, please practice lots of counter charms, if and only if this were the case._ **

**_If and only if Akaashi and Kenma and I were to talk to headmaster Akaashi about our personal problems, then I would be very frustrated because just like any other adult he seems to have listening problems. He is a good headmaster, and seems to trust Minister Faiji a lot! Isn't that such a good relationship for the two of them? They work together well!_ **

**_If and only if Akaashi and Kenma and I were to come and visit you, not saying we would or are planning to because that would be very bad, it would be fun for you to wait for us, wouldn't it? I think if we were to make it a game, Asahi-san would do well at looking out a window and using a sparkler charm. Don't you think? Asahi-san would look very cute with a sparkler in his hand._ **

**_IF and only IF Akaashi and Kenma and I were to plan something together, not saying anything in particular because it would be a surprise, would Bokuto-san and Kuroo-san and Asahi-san like to join us? No need to respond right away, but a ~~fon~~ ~~fone~~ ~~fune~~ ~~phun~~ phone call would be nice even though I know you like to call your parents. Please think about me sometimes, Asahi-san._ **

**_Anyway, my hand is getting tired. Please read this letter multiple times, Asahi-san, and remember me._ **

**_I love you with all my heart,_ **

**_Your Noya_ **

After reading the letter, Asahi wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh, cry or burn it. After taking it to Kuroo and Bokuto after breakfast, Asahi read it one more time before doing all three.

"Stop braiding hair," Bokuto hissed at Kuroo and Asahi, Iwaizumi also in the room watching closely as Kuroo weaved strands of Asahi's hair together. "This isn't the time for this! We just got a big break and this is what you're doing with your time?"

Kuroo shrugged, finishing up Asahi's braid, Asahi taking a mirror out and looking at the braid. "You kind of made the middle section too big," Asahi commented, Kuroo groaning and taking the braid out before starting again. "It's okay! You've gotten a lot better since last time."

Bokuto screamed at them, throwing a brush at the three of them, the brush hitting Kuroo's temple making him wince and throw the brush back at Bokuto hard, hitting his stomach. Bokuto held in his pain, still glaring at the group of them.

"All you can do is braid hair in this situation? Are you kidding me?!" Bokuto screeched, Kuroo ignoring him as he continued with the braid. "Ow, too tight, Kuroo," Asahi winced, Kuroo apologizing and loosening up the strands. "Wait, you put it over instead of under," Iwaizumi pointed out, pointing to one of the strands of hair Kuroo had in his hand. "It's supposed to go under," Kuroo replied. "Yeah, but you started with under. If you go over it'll ruin it." 

Bokuto's face went red, pulling Kuroo's hand out of Asahi's hair and letting the hair fall. "Are you listening to me?!" Bokuto kicked Kuroo's side, which Kuroo simply responded with by kicking back. "Yeah, we are. But choose to ignore you because we don't even know what you want to do."

Asahi thought it was fair to tell Iwaizumi as well what was happening, so now he was in the know as well. If they had more people active in this, they might actually stand a chance.

"And we still have to tell Suga! He doesn't know yet-""He doesn't want to know," Iwaizumi cut Bokuto off before he could continue. "Nishinoya just put that there to let us know that he told Daichi and now he knows too."

Bokuto was silent for a moment, all of them looking in different directions now. The room could've been fooled for empty until Bokuto broke the silence again.

"So what? How are we supposed to just wait here? We just do nothing?"

Kuroo was the one to nod in confirmation, looking straight at Bokuto. "They said they're gonna come, didn't they?"

Which was true. Nishinoya said they would come for them, not specifying a date, but they said that they would. Which meant that they all had to be on their best behaviour until then.

"Isn't this situation a bit, I don't know," Iwaizumi looked at the three of them, the three of them looking back at him. "Stressful?"

After a minute of silence, Kuroo broke out laughing, flopping down on the floor along with Asahi, who was giggling quite a bit. "Stressful?" Asahi and Boktuo were holding each other as they laughed, Iwaizumi giving them a confused look, especially when Kuroo held his stomach to laugh louder. Iwaizumi blinked at them, waiting for one of them to explain. It was Kuroo who wiped a tear away, looking back at Iwaizumi.

"You're the one dating Oikawa _Tooru_ , and you think we're the ones that are stressed?"


	23. Iwaizumi

Date : September 24 1997

Time : 2:47 PM

Current Location : Herbology Classroom

Mission : Oikawa hasn't written a letter yet, so writing first is the obvious move. But... _Oikawa_ didn't write first. That's quite a big problem.

Iwaizumi couldn't process exactly what was happening all in the spur of the moment because from the moment he got to the school he could tell that there was something off.

First of all, the school wasn't charmed. It made sense to him in the beginning since the school looked like a normal school and not a fancy castle like Hogwarts, but then it occurred to Iwaizumi that _nothing_ in the school was charmed.  
Not a safety charm, not a shield, nothing.

Secondly, no one cared that Iwaizumi didn't know how to use a phone. The ministry people made him learn how to handle it himself, which was annoying. He kept pressing random numbers, hearing the stupid box ring over and over again until after 30 minutes of wasteful efforts, he gave up.  
When little Hinata told him they were only limited to one phone call and his always got cut off at the 15 minute mark, Iwaizumi was enlightened a little more.

It wasn't until his first meal with the Minister though, that Iwaizumi finally realized that he needed to get the fuck out of that school or else he was borderline going to be brain washed into thinking that muggle born students didn't deserve to be wizards at all.

" _Oikawa-kun is powerful, isn't he? But then you have students like Koushi who get in the way. Who're they trying to prove? Everyone knows that true power lies in pure blood."_ Minister Faiji said that the first time Iwaizumi sat down in his office.

Was it wrong that for a split second, Iwaizumi agreed?

"Iwaizumi?" Sugawara was holding out a sheet of paper to Iwaizumi, getting Iwaizumi's attention. He gulped, looking down at the worksheet, saying a small thanks as he took it. "Are you alright?"

Iwaizumi knew what Sugawara has been through. Sugawara has spent the past 5 years proving he was an amazing wizard to a group of students that don't even remember his name, just solely based on the fact that his parents were muggles.

And now he was in a building that was condemning him for it even harder. Sugawara was back at square one.

"Yeah. Just tired." Iwaizumi nodded his head, looking back down at his papers and flipping through the different questions and paragraphs, but he wasn't processing any information.

Iwaizumi knew what he had to do, he knew what needed to be done.

So why was it so hard for him to remember?

"And then it went _fwah_ , but my heart went _dun_. You know?" Hinata has been going on forever about something while Iwaizumi nodded his head countless amounts of times, giving Hinata the benefit of the doubt by thinking he knew Iwaizumi was just being a good friend.

About half way through their one-sided conversation, Iwaizumi remembered Hinata thought of Kageyama every time they talked.

"For sure," Iwaizumi nodded his head, agreeing because he was sure there wasn't anything 'wrong' that Hinata could say. Worse case scenario Hinata would blab to Kageyama about it or something but that wasn't even a huge concern since Kageyama and him were on good terms with each other. Oikawa being a big baby though, he would have to handle that.

"Do you feel the same way with Oikawa-san?"

Even though Iwaizumi had no idea what Hinata was talking about, even though he could be agreeing with the stupidest statement ever, Iwaizumi nodded his head again with a small smile.

"Yeah. I feel the same way with Oikawa."

Iwaizumi and Hinata were sitting together in the cafeteria after Hinata asked him very nicely (and loudly) if he could get some help with his Divination homework because apparently someone blabbed that Iwaizumi and Divination class in 3rd year was quite a match even though Iwaizumi dropped Divination the years after that. He didn't want to think about what he saw in that stupid crystal ball the professor made them look through.

"How come you call him 'Oikawa'?" Hinata asked, shocking Iwaizumi a bit, he had come to the realization that Hinata didn't actually want to do homework. "Haven't you guys known each other since you were kids? Why don't you call him by his first name?"

Iwaizumi's eyes widened at the thought of calling Oikawa by his first name, gulping and shaking his head without even knowing. When they were kids, of course they called each other by their first names here and there, but that was when they didn't know how else to call each other. Iwaizumi didn't want to think about the name 'Tooru' escaping his mouth.

"You call Asahi-san by his first name," Hinata pointed out, making Iwaizumi scowl at him. "And I heard you calling Bokuto-san by his first name too-""Enough," Iwaizumi cut him off, putting the pencil in front of Hinata and pointed at the paper in front of him. "Do your homework or I won't help you."

With a pout, Hinata took the pencil in his hand and started scribbling down words and shapes that made Iwaizumi sigh and take the paper, crumpling it. "Come on, do this seriously."   
Hinata whined, taking another paper out with his wand and actually reading the questions this time.

"Kuroo-san...Asahi-san...you're all the same. I should ask Bokuto-san for help next time."

Iwaizumi was thinking about other things - other people - a little too hard that he couldn't tell Hinata why that would be a bad idea.

"You can tell the future?" Tendou asked with wide eyes and an excited expression, him and Sugawara in Divination class together, but there wasn't much they were doing. It was more like Astronomy, charting stars and being able to tell good fortune from bad.  
Something the Hogwarts students do in their 3rd year of Hogwarts.

"I can't," Iwaizumi scowled at him, glaring down at the sheet of paper with star calculations on it. "I was just a stupid 3rd year at the time, don't worry about it."

Tendou was still mad at Iwaizumi for getting special treatment, but honestly, Iwaizumi couldn't blame him. Somehow Tendou was able to smell the extra good (and actually edible) food on him even though Iwaizumi couldn't even remember what he ate. It was weird, like Tendou had some sort of superhuman enhanced senses, but he didn't comment on the weirdness, feeling like that would irritate him more.

"Tell mine then!" Tendou demanded, pushing the star chart in front of Iwaizumi, completely ignoring Iwaizumi's protests and denials. "Oh, come on IwaIwa, just a little fortune, yeah? Tell me if Waka-chan and I's wedding will be indoor or outdoor."

Iwaizumi huffed, looking down at the star chart again, not seeing much more than dots and Greek names. Sugawara as well was making him anxious by staring at him intensely, waiting for some sort of reaction or response.  
But Iwaizumi had no intention of telling the future ever again.

"My last fortune didn't even come true," thankfully, "I bet the Divination professor just charmed a few of the crystal balls to mess with some of her students so it _looked_ like we could tell the future. But I have no idea what I'm doing."

It was sort of a lie. Iwaizumi told one fortune - one single, itty bitty telling - in his 3rd year that everyone saw he predicted, but he never told anyone what it was and never had the intention of telling anyone.

Especially Oikawa, who the fortune was about in the first place.

However, Iwaizumi and Oikawa were growing, their hair and faces were changing, and the fortune still hasn't come true. He didn't know the specifics, just what happened, and as far as he could tell the fortune wasn't even going to come true any time soon.

To Iwaizumi's great relief.

"Stingy," Tendou muttered, doodling on his star charting, connecting the dots to make a heart instead of the constellation he was supposed to make. "I just wanted to know if Waka-chan and I are gonna have an outdoor wedding or an indoor wedding."

Sugawara laughed, but Iwaizumi was too busy staring down at the star chart to notice their little banter about the future. The stars right now, to Iwaizumi at least, were making a message that he couldn't read right away.

He hated it. He felt crazy.

"Waka-chan would want an outdoor wedding! He loves the outdoors!" Tendou insisted, drawing a bunch of trees on the back of his Divination paper, then two people, one with spiked up hair and one with short sticks as hair, the one with spiked hair smiling widely as the short haired one had a straight expression with slanted eyes.  
"And then he would make the bouquet for me..." Tendou went on, Iwaizumi watching his star chart shifting slowly as the letters got more clear. "I would make the cake because....well, because!"

Did stars always make letters? Or was it just Iwaizumi?

"What about you, SugaSuga? What kind of wedding do you want?"

Iwaizumi had to hold in a gasp, keeping his indifferent expression on his face as the star chart gave a message, unclear but visible to Iwaizumi nonetheless. Was this gift of fortune telling real, or was he just hallucinating. The last fortune didn't even come true up till now, so what was the point of telling anyone about this one? Besides, it's not like this said a lot. It wasn't even a real fortune, it was just a word.

"IwaIwa?" Tendou called out, staring at Iwaizumi. His head snapped up and he gulped, but made it barely visible. "Oh. Yeah?""The bell rang," Sugawara said, pointing at the time. "Let's go."

Iwaizumi prayed no one else could see the word he saw for a brief moment, nodding his head and getting up so he could get out of that damn classroom, the one word on his paper, twinkling with the stars that were charted down for the month of October.

_Revolution._

"Mails in! Mails in! Come on now, mails in, boys!"

Mail time, Iwaizumi was a bit surprised when he got nothing the first week. Especially with how clingy and annoying Oikawa was the week he was announced to leave, he expected Oikawa to write right away.

But the first week of school was always busy, wasn't it?

Then the second week came, and he still didn't get a letter. 

Then the third week and now it was the fourth and the only letters he's gotten were from his parents, which he was happy about, but he really thought by now Oikawa would have sent something, if not an essay about what he loved about Iwaizumi, then at least a little heart letter with a photo of him. Iwaizumi was expecting _something_ is what his point was.

"Hm? Waka-chan only wrote one page..." Tendou said sadly, looking on the back and front of the letter, then took out something else out of the envelope - a pressed flower that was made into a bookmark, glossed with a sprinkle of sparkle. Tendou's face lit up like a fire. "Why is he so cute!"

Iwaizumi couldn't help but scowl, sitting in the cafeteria - a new word he learned from Sugawara - and stared down at the sad lunch. A bowl of rice, a pink chicken leg and some cucumbers.  
How did food like this make Iwaizumi full? It shouldn't, that was for sure.

"Daichi-kun writes to the whole Gryffindor house," Sugawara chuckled, holding 80 envelopes in a bag, looking through them and sorting them by the years. "I don't know why they come to me though."

Even fucking Semi got a letter. "Shirabu-kun?" One of the other Slytherins exclaimed as they looked down at Semi's envelope, eyes wide and mouth slightly opened in shock. "Who's Shirabu?""Bangs.""Isn't that Goshiki-kun?"

Iwaizumi slammed his fist down on the table when he thought about how everyone was getting a letter right now while he sat there, letter-less and bitter, not knowing if he was more annoyed at Oikawa or himself for getting so worked up by this.

"He might be taking care of the Slytherin house right now," Sugawara offered weakly, but the three of them knew that wasn't happening. "Or! He could be having a party," Tendou laughed, not caring when Sugawara kicked him under the table. Iwaizumi felt like he should be the one hitting Tendou, but decided against it when he saw Tendou drop his bookmark gift and screamed when dirt got on it.

"Don't worry. Oikawa is probably busy, you know? Quidditch captain and all." Iwaizumi wanted so badly to believe Sugawara and agree with him, but there was an annoying little voice at the back of his mind, whining different things that made Iwaizumi's whole body cringe.

"Why don't you write first?" Tendou suggested, making Iwaizumi scoff and shake his head right away. "No way! I can't do that!"

Could he?

"Iwaizumi-san," one of the ministry people called Iwaizumi, which wasn't out of routine and has been happening for the past few weeks. "Minister Faiji requests your company."

Tendou scowled and Sugawara watched as Iwaizumi got up slowly, following the ministry guard, waving to Sugawara and Tendou.

"Hey, save some food for me, alright?" Tendou called out angrily, but the ministry person just ignored while Sugawara pushed Tendou down. "Yeah, you piece of shit, I know you hear me! Suga, let go! Ah, you fuckass bi-"

Iwaizumi couldn't hear anymore insults when he closed the cafeteria doors.

Minister Faiji's office was kind of creepy. It was big and charmed (the only charmed part of the school, mind you) and had all sorts of things that maybe weren't meant for an office.

His pet Phoenix that Yamaguchi was taking care of. Did he really need it at a school when he was just there to torture students? Later Iwaizumi would learn how important the Yamaguchi family was to the Minister himself.

Then he had an oracle. It gave Iwaizumi the chills, staring at the foggy crystal ball, not wanting to look at it for too long though or else he might see something else he didn't want.

And then there was all those papers. Did anyone else notice? He had all these papers on his desk of different students, when Iwaizumi walked in this time it was Futakuchi. It was like Minister Faiji was studying each student and checking to see their personal information every now and then, like he needed it in order for the school to function.

"Hajime-kun!" Iwaizumi hated it when he called him that. "Yes, it's lunchtime, isn't it? Sorry to call you when you were having fun with your, er, friends. But I just needed you right now."

If Yamaguchi was helping Minister Faiji with magical creatures, Iwaizumi had a job too. The only difference was that Iwaizumi hated his.

"You know, I couldn't help but notice. There's a Lunar Eclipse coming, isn't there?" Minister Faiji said, Iwaizumi felt like he was faking his shock. "That means that the stars would be stronger, don't you think? I feel like there's a big fortune that you can see, it's just that you need a little more practice, isn't that it?"  
Because Minister Faiji would be giving him that much, wouldn't he?

"Minister, I really feel like I should be-""Tooru-kun is quite a boy, isn't he? But you would know because you two grew up together." Minister Faiji smirked up at Iwaizumi, raising an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it a shame you haven't heard from him yet?"

Iwaizumi froze, staring up at Minister Faiji blankly. This would be the first time Minister Faiji has brought up the lack of letters Oikawa has been sending - or rather, the lack of letters Iwaizumi has been receiving.

Minister Faiji took out a stack of envelopes from his drawer, Iwaizumi's eyes widening when he saw them on the desk, all of them with familiar writing on the senders information part, and a big red or pink heart on each of them.

Iwaizumi's jaw clenched when he saw all of them already opened, the Minister taking a random one and pulling it out.

"' _Iwa-chan, how are you doing? I miss you so, so, so much, but I can't be too sad! Because Iwa-chan is so strong and cool and a great leader, I have to be one too! I'm waiting for you to write back.'_ " The Minister took out another one with a sigh, Iwaizumi balling his fists up as he watched. "' _Iwa-chan, are you busy? You haven't written back and I'm getting worried.'_ " Another letter was taken out, the smile on the Minister's face widening as Iwaizumi got even more red with anger.

So Oikawa _has_ been writing this whole time.

"' _Iwa-chan. Am I annoying you? I'm sorry,'_ " this time, Minister Faiji looked up at Iwaizumi as he finished the sentence. "' _I just miss you so much._ '"

That was what got Iwaizumi to launch out of his seat to try and take the letter from Minister Faiji's hands, but Minister Faiji was faster, taking his wand out and pushing Iwaizumi back, making him sit still in his chair.

"Tooru-kun likes you a lot, doesn't he?" Minister Faiji chuckled, Iwaizumi gritting his teeth and trying to get out of the magical binds he was put in, but it was useless. He couldn't even reach for his wand at this point.

"Hajime-kun," the Minister started talking slower, pushing a star chart in front of Iwaizumi with a sick smile. "I know you have a gift not a lot of students have. And I think not using them, it's a waste, isn't it?"

This has been going on for the past 2 weeks, but if you were to ask Iwaizumi about it everything was still a little fuzzy and he couldn't exactly remember everything. Minister Faiji would ask him to read the stars and the planets, which Iwaizumi would respond with that he didn't know what they said. Then he would eat and leave and Tendou would be able to tell him what he had for his meal with just one sniff of his collar.

"I told you," Iwaizumi let out a shaky breath. "I've never told the future before. It was a fluke, it never even happened-"

Iwaizumi's throat went tight and his head was forced to look down at the stars. They shined under his eyes, too bright but he couldn't seem to close his eyes. All of a sudden they made sense as they jumbled foreign words around, Iwaizumi spitting out nonsense that he couldn't hear himself saying.

"Tsukishima Kei-" Iwaizumi coughed, trying to stop himself but his voice was louder than ever. "Tsukishima Kei! Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei. Tsukishima Kei." Iwaizumi sobbed, not knowing why but the next thing he knew he was breathing properly again, his tears falling out from his eyes like rain. He didn't know what saying 'Tsukishima Kei' meant for the Minister, but it couldn't have been good.

"Good boy, Hajime-kun," the Minister patted Iwaizumi's head, but Iwaizumi didn't feel it. "Have something to eat before you leave."

Iwaizumi ate a slice of cake and left the Minister's office only remembering the letters from Oikawa.

"Is that a letter or a ransom note?" Tendou peered over Iwaizumi's shoulder, watching Iwaizumi write and then scribble all over his tenth attempt at a letter to Oikawa that night.

Now that he knew Oikawa has been writing to him but the Minister had his letters, Iwaizumi was planning to write back. Knowing that the ministry people checked their letters before they were sent out, Iwaizumi had to make this as innocent as possible, which he didn't mind. Just a simple 'I miss you' and whatnot, like how Oikawa has been sending him.

The problem was, Iwaizumi didn't exactly know how to right letters like that.

"Shut it. I'm concentrating," Iwaizumi huffed, crumpling the letter up and throwing it in the trash and starting a new one. "Don't start the letter with 'Hey shithead,' Sugawara stepped in, looking over Iwaizumi's other shoulder. "That's not very nice."

Iwaizumi groaned, crumpling up the barely written on paper and threw it at Sugawara's face. "Fine then! If you two are so good at writing things like this, then you do it for me!"

Iwaizumi knew it wasn't right for him to take his frustrations out on Sugawara and Tendou, but it's been an hour and Iwaizumi hasn't gotten past the greeting. It was getting to the point where Iwaizumi was considering not writing a letter back.

But Oikawa's been writing this whole time. Iwaizumi couldn't just ignore him.

"So you say he's been writing since the start of the month?" Tendou sat in front of Iwaizumi after Iwaizumi explained the situation. He'd been updating Sugawara and Tendou on things he could remember when he left the Minister's office, and Asahi too, but he was elsewhere. "I see," Tendou said slowly. "I guess you do really have to write back."

Iwaizumi hit his forehead on the table, wanting to scream 'I know' in Tendou's face, but held it in. "He's just-" Iwaizumi huffed in frustration, hitting his forehead a few more times on the desk. "He was so clingy before, you know? And now...I feel bad! I feel bad, that's what I want to say! But then that's so degrading, so now I need to-ah! I don't know!"

Sugawara and Tendou watched as Iwaizumi had a breakdown, looking at each other then back at Iwaizumi. "'Clingy'?"

Iwaizumi looked up, his forehead now red, a tight expression on his face. "Clingy." He repeated with a nod. "You know. Always latching onto you. Calling you all the time. Never leaving you alone."

Sugawara and Tendou looked at each other again the back at Iwaizumi, opening then closing their mouths. Iwaizumi looked back at them, waiting for some sort of response, confused and expectant.

"If that's the definition of clingy..." Sugawara started saying slowly.  
"Then I think _I'm_ the clingy one," Tendou finished off, pointing to himself.

Iwaizumi groaned again, hitting his head on the table, the papers he had planned to write on flying on the floor.

Apparently, according to Tendou, a letter wasn't enough for Iwaizumi to send Oikawa. "It would break my heart if I sent Waka-chan letters over and over again and he didn't reply! Would rip my heart right out!" Was what he said. Iwaizumi didn't like thinking about how he probably did rip out a bit of Oikawa's heart by not replying this whole time.

But what else was he supposed to do?

"Semi! SemiSemi! Semi, you like music, don't you?" Tendou asked excitedly, walking over to the other Slytherin. Semi looked up from his letter from Shirabu that he was reading for maybe the hundredth time that day. He nodded at Tendou's question, getting Tendou even more excited. "Can we borrow your guitar? We need it for IwaIwa."

Semi gave Tendou a weird look before shaking his head. "I didn't...bring my guitar with me."

Tendou kissed his teeth, flicking Semi's forehead before turning around, grabbing Iwaizumi's writs to lead him elsewhere. "What's the point of doing music if you don't bring your guitar around," Tendou muttered under his breath, and Iwaizumi didn't even bother thinking about explaining.

"Ah, he didn't have a guitar!" Tendou exclaimed, meeting Sugawara in the cafeteria. Sugawara was waiting for them with a few pieces of papers in hand, giving Tendou a small smile and shrugging. "I would've guessed as much."

Iwaizumi looked between the two of them, furrowing his eyebrows and crossing his arms. "Okay, but," Iwaizumi interrupted them, getting both of their attention. "Why would I even need a guitar. You haven't even told me what we're doing yet."

For the whole evening it's just been Iwaizumi blindly following Tendou around while Sugawara waited for them, Tendou not giving Iwaizumi enough time to ask what was happening.  
Very excitedly, Tendou clapped his hands together and took one of the papers Sugawara had, shoving it into Iwaizumi's face.

"We're gonna do a serenade! Or, _you're_ gonna do a serenade at least."

Not wasting a moment, Iwaizumi took the paper and ripped into shreds, not bothering to read it as his face and neck turned red. Just the thought of singing to Oikawa was enough to make his stomach twist and his whole body sake with embarrassment.

Sugawara and Tendou watched the papers drop from Iwaizumi's hands, Sugawara just taking out another one. "Did you not like that song?"

Iwaizumi pushed Tendou out of the way, storming out of the cafeteria like a drama queen - perhaps something he picked up from Oikawa. "I am _not,_ absolutely _not_ singing a song like a-a show! That's so-so-it's-" Iwaizumi sputtered out before slamming the doors open and closing them shut behind him. 

"So I haven't Apparated to a far place before, but I'm sure Hogwarts can't be too difficult."

Sugawara was giddy as the three of them looked down at Tendou's Port Key - a stuffed penguin that apparently Ushijima won for Tendou over the summer - getting ready to go see the school they got sent away from.

"I'm so excited! Seeing Daichi-kun again. I'm sure he'll wanna make me cum so many time-""Don't! You'll make me think of Waka-chan," Tendou sighed, looking out longingly before he shook his head to focus.

That small mention of sex made Iwaizumi wonder if him and Oikawa were a late couple or something for not having done anything like that yet.

"Anyway! Everyone, take a penguin limb! I have to think of Hogwarts and where I should land us," Tendou hummed thinking, putting a hand on his chin as he concentrated, his eyes slanting in a way that it made Iwaizumi realize why Ushijima chose that penguin for Tendou.

It didn't occur to Iwaizumi to ask until right before Tendou was ready to Apparate them, but his head cocked and he was asking without thinking that much.

"You could Apparate whenever, wherever, this whole time. How come you didn't Apparate to Hogwarts before?"

Sugawara and Tendou looked between each other - something they've been doing a lot lately - and then shrugged. Iwaizumi could tell that there was a reason they weren't telling him, and even if it made him more curious he didn't push for an answer. If they wanted to tell him then they'd tell him on their own, not because Iwaizumi insisted.

"Okay everyone. You got a penguin part in your hands?" Tendou asked eagerly, smiling at the two of them before taking his wand out. The three of them needed to go quickly because Apparating in the bathroom wasn't the best choice, but Tendou wanted to do it there anyway.

"Do you think Hogwarts is far from here?" Sugawara asked quietly, looking out the window of the bathroom then back at them. "I want to get there in one piece, you know?""Don't worry!" Tendou patted both their backs, Iwaizumi holding an arm while Sugawara a leg. "I'll...get us there."

Iwaizumi settled for that as the best Tendou could promise, then waited for Tendou to take a part of the penguin before the familiar feeling of Apparation happened, the world spinning around Iwaizumi like a rollercoaster on steroids.

Iwaizumi felt he sort of knew a little more why Tendou must've held back Apparating to Hogwarts in the first place.

Hogwarts looked the same, which shouldn't have shocked Iwaizumi as much as it did.

"It smells like angst and sad boys," Tendou sighed happily, hugging the stuffed penguin to his chest and even though Iwaizumi had no idea what that meant, he understood.

"I thought it would be another month before we were here again," Sugawara chuckled as he looked up at the castle, smiling widely and then looking at Iwaizumi, patting his back. "Come on. Let's find Oikawa."

Iwaizumi couldn't understand how they were both so calm in the situation.

The three of them literally broke out of school to come back to Hogwarts, a place they shouldn't be at, all to what? See Oikawa? Maybe see Daichi and Ushijima, but how much time did they even have?

"Slytherin tower..." The three of them walked around the school to find it, looking up at the green curtains, some of them opened but most of them closed. Iwaizumi knew which room was his, and the feeling of anxious excitement flooded his heart, mind and stomach.  
Or maybe that was just the effects of the Apparation.

"What're you doing?" Tendou asked, very loudly that both Sugawara and Iwaizumi had to tell him to shut up. "Throw something! A rock or-""Better. A spell." Sugawara took his wand out and pointed to the window, shooting a light at it, giving the wall a 'thump'. The curtains moved when the spell hit the window, but there was no answer.

"It's midnight. Where could he be?" Iwaizumi came all the way here to see him, he didn't mind looking a little obsessed for a moment. It was just Tendou and Sugawara anyway, it's not like they would say anything.

"Maybe he's cheating on you-""Tendou!" Sugawara scolded, hitting the back of his head but Tendou just cackled, making Iwaizumi even more upset just thinking about it.

Oikawa wouldn't cheat. He loved Iwaizumi too much, didn't he? Even though it was just Tendou being stupid, the thought of it was making Iwaizumi more mad, looking around and finding a rock before whipping it at the window, making the glass crack with a ' _crash_ '.  
All three of their eyes went wide.

But Oikawa finally came to the window, his eyes equally as wide when he saw Iwaizumi down there, looking up at Oikawa.

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa' whimpered, covering his mouth as he tried to look around to see if he could jump out of the window and land safely. Iwaizumi could catch him, but he guessed Oikawa didn't consider that.

"Oh! Music!"

Iwaizumi tried to stop Tendou but him and Sugawara were already behind a bush, both of them using their wands to play background music loud enough that both Iwaizumi and Oikawa could hear it. Iwaizumi cursed, gritting his teeth but Oikawa was watching in anticipation and amazement, like he couldn't believe his Iwaizumi was there in front of him.

"Iwa-chan?"

The music started and Iwaizumi was standing there lamely with nothing to offer but his presence. Which, in all fairness, was enough for Oikawa, but Iwaizumi couldn't help but remember all the letters Oikawa had been sending this entire time.

And then the music started making sense to him.

" _That sparkling curtain~  
Seems rather calm today~  
From your each and every day chores~  
No wonder you're exhausted~"_

Oikawa's jaw dropped when he heard Iwaizumi singing to him, Iwaizumi could hear Tendou and Sugawara giggling behind him, but he ignored it. Iwaizumi's face was red and flushed, his knuckles turning white as they fisted up.  
But he's made it this far. And he started singing already.

He might as well finish what he started.

" _It's a colourful morning~  
It comes with different forms~  
Whether you'll be napping during it~  
Whether you'll be going out~  
Just do everything what you want~  
Until your heart's content~"_

Iwaizumi could feel his heart racing as Oikawa waited for him to sing the rest, their eyes meeting, Oikawa looking down at him with such love and adoration that Iwaizumi didn't feel that embarrassed anymore.

But then he heard Tendou laughing and his face was angry again.

" _In the mean time I'll be lovin' you~  
Obviously I'd be with you~  
In this sparkling glittery era, why don't we try growing seeds~  
Oh please, it would be nice if this were to continue~  
While I pour all of my love onto you~"_

Iwaizumi noticed Oikawa leaning down, either trying to get a better look or trying to hear the lyrics better. So Iwaizumi took his wand out and held it to his mouth, using an amplifier charm Tendou used often and started singing into that instead so Oikawa could hear every word he sung out, and how much he meant each and every line.

" _That shining table~  
Seems rather gentle today~  
From your each and every day fluttering~  
Things scattered here and there~"_

Iwaizumi gulped when he noticed Oikawa was actually properly listening to him, not just watching in awe as Iwaizumi sang all of this. It was a first, Iwaizumi initiating such a romantic gesture, Iwaizumi wasn't even worried if Oikawa would hate it or find it lame.

If Iwaizumi did it, then Oikawa would love it all the same.

And don't be fooled, it was a mutual feeling between the two of them.

" _In the mean time I'll be lovin' you~  
In the end, I need you~  
In this sparkling era why don't we try growing flowers~  
Please, I really hope you protect it~  
Every little thing of everyday where I'm able to pour my love to you~  
As I pour out my love onto you~"_

Finally, Oikawa made the first move by leaving the window as an instrumental part broke out, running down, Iwaizumi could only guess that a few moments later Oikawa would be running to him.  
He was relieved to say his guess was correct.

But singing to Oikawa instead of up at him was a little more nerve wracking, now face to face with him. Iwaizumi's stomach twisted in nervousness and his heart was trembling while his hands shook.

For every step Iwaizumi took back, Oikawa took forward.

" _Since it's about people there'll be times that it will not go well~  
There are our own benefits as well~  
Thought it may not be simple~  
But since today is a holiday and all~  
Let's put aside those difficult things for now~"_

Oikawa was standing right in front of him, slowly reaching his hand out to take Iwaizumi's. His face was dark, his eyes glossy and watering as Iwaizumi reached for his other hand, squeezing his eyes shut.  
He couldn't look at Oikawa properly while doing something like this.

" _In the mean time I'll be lovin' you~  
Obviously I'd be with you~  
In this sparkling era why don't we try growing seeds~  
Oh please, it would be nice if this were to continue~  
While I pour out all of my love onto you~"_

Iwaizumi hesitated, but one eye cracked open, slowly opening both eyes and now looking at Oikawa. It wasn't necessary, Iwaizumi could have written back and Oikawa would have understood. Iwaizumi didn't need to go all out, he didn't have to put himself through this and he cold have trusted Oikawa knew his feelings without reminding him 24/7 like how Oikawa did.

Iwaizumi didn't have to. But the more he thought about it, the more Iwaizumi realized just how much he wanted to.

He wanted to shower Oikawa with love and affection. He wanted to tell Oikawa just how much he meant to him, how he didn't want to let some silly fortune tellings get into the way of them and how the future he had wouldn't be a future if Oikawa wasn't there to be beside him.

Iwaizumi didn't have to, but he wanted to.

" _No matter what's the time I'll be lovin' you~  
Obviously I need you~  
In this sparkling glittery era why don't we try growing flowers~  
Please do not wither~  
As I keep pouring all of my love onto you~  
I'll be giving all and every part of me to you~"_

Oikawa threw his arms around Iwaizumi, pulling him into a tight hug. It took Iwaizumi a few seconds, but he hugged back with a tighter grip.

"Who's there?" A gruff voice called out as a light shined in Iwaizumi's direction. He cursed, pushing Oikawa away and diving into the bus where Sugawara and Tendou were hiding behind.

"Oikawa! It's passed curfew, what do you think you're doing?" One of the Hogwarts teachers walked over to him, Sugawara, Tendou and Iwaizumi watching from the bush as Oikawa bowed, smiling innocently.

"I'm a prefect! I was doing my nightly rounds in this area."

Iwaizumi's eyes went wide, wondering if he read those letters Oikawa sent, he would know that Oikawa became a prefect this year. "Since when was-""Shh." 

The Hogwarts professor flashed their wand around, looking for the source of noise, making all three of them hold their breath. The light from their wand went around slowly, to the trees, going closer and closer to the bush they were hiding in.

"Professor! Oikawa said suddenly, going in front of the professor, laughing nervously. "I just finished monitoring this area! Let's go now, before, ah, before the headmaster catches us!"

Oikawa didn't look back at the bush as him and the professor went back into the school, which did make Iwaizumi a little disappointed, but understood it was better for them like this. It gave them reassurance that they wouldn't get caught, and Oikawa and Iwaizumi were able to see each other.

"Didn't know you had such a lovely voice, IwaIwa."  
"Oh shut up," Iwaizumi scowled, kicking Tendou's leg. "Are you guys gonna see Daichi and or Ushijima?" Tendou and Sugawara looked at each other before shaking their heads, which genuinely left Iwaizumi confused.

"What?" Sugawara gave Iwaizumi a reassuring smile, patting Iwaizumi on the back.

"I know you know why, Iwa-kun," Sugawara giggled, Tendou taking out the penguin so the three of them could Apparate back to their hell house.

And maybe Iwaizumi wouldn't be so annoyed if he actually _did_ know why, but this whole time Tendou and Sugawara have been exchanging glances and looks and Iwaizumi hasn't picked up anything they've been putting down.

"Are you guys sure?" Iwaizumi asked again, not wanting to waste this trip. "We can stay longer, I don't mind."

Sugawara looked over at Tendou and Tendou looked at Iwaizumi. The grin he had on is face made Iwaizumi gulp, uncomfortable but also at the same time, reassuring.

"Like you said, IwaIwa," Tendou laughed, giving a part of the penguin for Iwaizumi to hold. Reluctantly, with slight hesitation and confusion, he held the penguin's hand.

"I can Apparate whenever I want."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lovin' You - Mrs. GREEN APPLE :
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff7kdaIQvQM&list=LLxpQRSn2kcdmPDZ9OQxOmuA&index=21


	24. Sugawara

Date : September 29 1997

Time : 6:27 PM

Current Location : Slytherin Boy's Room

Mission : Daichi's Gryffindors are a pain in the ass, but let's not forget that Daichi has the whole Slytherin house to worry about back at Hogwarts.

It didn't surprise Sugawara one bit the way they were being treated at the dumb school of theirs. But if he were to be honest, being a mudblood in a house of Slytherins was much worse.

No place to sleep? Try being given spiders in your underpants and robes, them crawling into your bed so you end up having to sleep in the gross bathrooms of Hogwarts that all the boys from the ages of 11 to 17 use.

Food sucks? Imagine starving because the kids at your table thought it would be funny to put a charm on your mouth to glue it shut so your 'smart ass mouth wouldn't run a mile for no reason'.

Can't use magic? Maybe if your wand was stolen, broken and burned because your parents were muggles and they never thought you would amount to anything a decent wizard could be solely because of your blood, it would be easier to understand the indifference Sugawara had. 

Minister Faiji was bad, yes, but Sugawara used to have a whole group of people attacking him at once. If anything, this was child's play and Sugawara had a new toy he wanted to mess around with.

"We can't even do Herbology properly! What am I gonna do with a stupid, little plant?" Semi growled as he was doing his Herbology homework, which was drawing a picture of Fluxweed and labelling it, a task so easy a kid could do it in seconds. Very undermining, yes, but have you ever been given a handicapped sign and had it taped on your pillow? Sugawara has, that was for sure.

"Maybe you could ask IwaIwa to talk to them. He just had steak with potatoes," Tendou sang out coldly, but Iwaizumi by now has learned how to ignore Tendou's sarcastic, passive aggressive comments, doing nothing more than giving him the finger.

Because even now, Iwaizumi could sense that there was something more going on with Tendou than he was leading on.

"Sugawara, can I borrow your eri-eras-what's it called?""Eraser," Sugawara finished off for Semi, handing him the pink piece of rubber and leaning down to see his work, a simple plant with leaves labelled lazily. "Not gonna colour it in?" Semi groaned as Sugawara giggled at his joke, even Tendou and Iwaizumi chuckling along, because honestly, what was their only option at this point?

It's not like an attack on such a powerful line of people would be that easy in the first place.

"SugaSuga, you've gotten funny, haven't you?" Tendou threw a pillow at Sugawara, Sugawara catching it and throwing it back at Tendou. "I was always funny. Your sense of humour just got better."

In a situation like this, patience was key, and the lock was quite tough to pick. So for Sugawara, to wait a little longer for a hit that would blow the Ministry down, it wasn't a problem and the satisfaction he would receive from such a moment wouldn't be like any other, he knew that much.

He just wished Iwaizumi would stop fucking saying he wasn't doing anything to help.

_Sept. 27/97_

_Dear Suga,_

_Today, I learned what a rubber duck is. I was sad when they took Muggle Studies out of the curriculum, but the books you gave me are quite fun and entertaining that I don't think it's that bad anymore. Did you have a rubber duck growing up? I still don't quite understand what the purpose of it is, but it's adorable and I think would suit Suga very much. Of course, you would have to take baths for it (is there another function it has that I don't know?) and I know Suga is a shower person, but I still like the idea that you have one._

_How is it over there right now? It's getting colder, and from Tanaka's reply I heard that your heater is broken? Make sure you bundle up then, I'd hate for you to catch a cold. I think even a cup of tea every now and then would be good for your immune system, maybe with a little bit of potion as well for good measure. I know you get sick a little easily because you're quite sensitive, aren't you~? I wouldn't mind taking care of you if you get sick though._

_The longer you're gone the more I realize just how significant you were to my life. Now I don't have anyone to compare grades with or support me whenever I get stressed with all the_ _curricular activities I'm participating in. I've been tired recently, but I can only imagine what you're going through with the whole change and all. School must be really hectic._

_The Slytherins are fine, I'm pretty sure they have a party at least every other night. Tsukishima seems to have taken a liking into Saturday school, but he doesn't talk to me quite often no matter how much I try.  
Oikawa and Nishinoya have been fighting much more lately, it is starting to concern me but I think I can handle it for now. I think Oikawa became a prefect? You should pass on the message to Iwaizumi, I heard Iwaizumi hasn't been writing. What's going on with that?  
Tell Tendou that Goshiki's piercing almost got infected but we took him to the hospital wing just in time. Now he can't wear it but I think that's okay with him. Also, Goshiki has taken a liking to Ushiwaka. Maybe mention that to Tendou? I'm not sure if he knows.  
Kunimi doesn't really care about anything that's happened so far, I don't even think he's noticed a change in students if I'm being honest.  
For the most part, the Slytherin house is doing well.  
_

_Of course I'm worried about Kuroo and Tanaka and Hinata (he's doing his homework, right?), Terushima, Lev, Asahi (how's his sister by the way?), Kogane and everyone. When they write back it's hard to imagine what they're talking about, but everyone's doing fine!  
_

_My main concern though, is of course you. I don't want Suga to be too stressed or worried all the time. I know I asked you to take care of the Gryffindors, but take care of yourself as well, okay? You're not their mom or anything._

_The Ravenclaws...there aren't many there, are there? I know Yaku got suspended recently, and Ennoshita is there (he's still helping Tanaka with his homework? I'm surprised!) but other than that, I guess not too many Ravenclaws left. Ushiwaka seems to be indifferent about that situation, but to be honest I still can't tell what he's thinking._

_Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. I hope to get a reply soon, and maybe a picture if possible? Your picture on my desk is a week outdated. I'll be waiting for you to write back. Until then,_

_Lots of love,_

_Daichi-kun_

"A normal letter for a normal boy, hm?" Sugawara smacked Tendou behind him, putting the letter into a folder where he was keeping all of them, along with some photos Daichi has been sending and various little gifts that he's added to the pile. Sugawara thought they were adorable and didn't need Tendou's taunting right now.

"Don't hit me!" Tendou hit the back of Sugawara's head then quickly scurried away before Sugawara could hit him again, sticking their tongues out together in immature battle.

The letters Daichi and Sugawara have been sending have been going on ever since the first one was sent a week after the transfer, and they've been as normal as normal can get for a long distance relationship.

How are you? Are you eating well? What is it like where you are? Are you sleeping well? You're not cheating, right? Things like this have been going back and forth with their letters and Sugawara didn't see what the harm was with these sorts of words.  
Even though everyone could sort of guess, Sugawara wasn't a dummy.

But neither was Daichi.

"Has Wakatoshi-kun replied with anything?" Sugawara asked when Tendou and him stopped their bickering, Sugawara and him sitting on the curb of the courtyard entrance and sipping on orange juice Sugawara managed to buy from the muggle convenience store. He guessed that the muggle money his parents had to offer weren't that much of a weakness anymore.

"He sent me a cookie recipe. But I recognized it right away, he stole this from Semi!""I meant something useful," Sugawara retaliated loftily, making Tendou grin cheekily and stick his tongue out again.

"Useful? I suppose."

Tendou wasn't a stranger to discrimination either. And his boyfriend was a Ravenclaw - after years of dating he couldn't be that stupid, could he?

"But we can't be too suspicious about this, yeah?" Tendou looked behind his shoulder to make sure no one was walking in on them accidentally or was eavesdropping on them. Apparently nothing about this school was charmed - according to Iwaizumi anyways - so they never worried about the walls listening to them, or anyone invisible trying to hear into their conversation, but still, they never took the risk.

"Futakuchi."

Sugawara raised an eyebrow as Tendou nodded his head, as if that were to help him with something, but it took him a while to process the name. Futakuchi also got himself suspended so he could join Aone in the transfer, and to Sugawara's knowledge Futakuchi has been skipping his daily sessions with the Minister for whatever reason.

Sugawara could make an educated guess why.

"You're sure?""Do you know why Iwaizumi was sent here?" Tendou asked, his cheeky smile and mocking tone not leaving, which usually pissed off Sugawara but right now it seemed to be helping him a bit.

Something else they couldn't do here that easily - say what they wanted to say.

"I bet if you asked Futakuchi-kun he would be able to get something outta him," Tendou hummed, getting up from the ground and dusting his pants off. "I'm just saying. Oh, don't forget about my Wolfsbane tonight." Tendou reminded Sugawara, looking up at the sun and squinting before looking down at Sugawara, his narrowed eyes remaining narrowed out.

"My full moons have been a bit of a bitch lately."

It turned out, getting to Futakuchi was harder than Sugawara thought it would be. He thought the rumour of him being a cocky, typical Slytherin only reached to a certain length, but he was almost as bad as Oikawa.

The only thing that made him approachable, was Aone.

"Futakuchi-kun, please-""Busy, mudblood," Futakuchi spat out, his hand intertwined with Aone's as he rejected Sugawara's invitation to get something from the convenience store with him, Sugawara even offered to pay.

Aone, being the Hufflepuff he was supposedly, squeezed Futakuchi's hand making Futakuchi flinch, and with a begrudging sigh rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Sugawara before letting go of Aone's hand and crossing his arms over his chest.

Fucking Slytherins.

"Look, I have no interest in interacting with, er, people like you-""People like Aone-kun?"

The way Futakuchi shut up right away made Sugawara smirk at him, knowing that it was a trigger, something that made Futakuchi's mind stir and get his heart conflicted, which might be a little mean, but Sugawara needed to talk to him.

And besides, Sugawara was a Slytherin too, wasn't he?

"I have no interest in you, specifically. Now, Sugawara," Futakuchi pushed past Sugawara, hitting his shoulder against Sugawara's, giving him a cold side glance, Aone behind him glaring at the back of Futakuchi's head, but Futakuchi seemed to not notice or care. "I'll be going. Don't talk to me like that again, hm?" With that, Futakuchi left him, Aone slowly following but not without Aone bowing at Sugawara in apology.

"Please, understand. Lately, he's been-""I don't want an apology from Futakuchi coming out of your mouth, Aone-kun," Sugawara smiled softly, petting Aone's head and giving him a bit of a bow back, but it was lazy and a little sarcastic. Did Aone notice?

"Don't worry about it," Sugawara looked behind him, Futakuchi now gone from the hallway, but there wasn't many places in the small school for him to go to. He couldn't run away forever.

"I'll talk to Futakuchi again eventually. We're in the same house after all."

Aone gave Sugawara a straight look, the pause elongated as none of them left the hallway, not wanting to be the first to take a step - Aone out of respect and Sugawara out of pride.

"Futakuchi..." Aone started saying slowly, Sugawara cocking his head a bit and waiting for Aone to continue on. The Hufflepuff hesitated, a visible gulp sounding from his throat, Sugawara almost apologized for now reason, thinking that he did something to intimidate Aone unintentionally.

"Futakuchi," Aone repeated, then looked at Sugawara in the eyes. "Futakuchi practised legilimency spells. He practised for a whole year before he was able to do it. He's not a prodigy or anything. He's just...He's just Futakuchi."

Sugawara stared back at Aone before giving him another smile, but this time his eyes were empty as he patted Aone on the shoulder, taking the first step and passing by Aone.

"Like I said," Sugawara said slowly, side eyeing Aone, unable to see his expression but he didn't need to. Aone's breathing was enough to tell Sugawara how he was feeling in this situation.

"I don't want to hear an apology from Futakuchi coming out of your mouth. Alright, Aone-kun?"

Sugawara had already walked off before he could see whether Aone nodded or not.

"Sugawara-san! Look, I got a 58% on my paragraph! Yamaguchi has been helping me out a lot these days."

After not a lot of observing and pitying on the weak, Sugawara had agreed he would help tutor not only Hinata, but Bokuto and Terushima as well so Kuroo could help literally everyone else in the Gryffindor house with their homework. Sugawara didn't mind it, it wasn't like the work was difficult or anything. But he's noticed it too along with Kuroo that everyone was getting antsy with the lack of magic used.

"I want to conjure up a patronus already," Terushima went on his knees, pointing his wand into the open room, about to open his mouth to say the spell but Sugawara snatched the wand out of his wand before Terushima had the opportunity to make anything appear.

"I heard Noya did it!" Terushima exclaimed, also getting Hinata's attention despite having heard the story over hundreds of times by now, mainly Bokuto bragging to everyone about how Nishinoya was able to even do the spell without getting attacked, no less actually _make_ a patronus. It was memorized to almost everyone who was willing to hear.

"A lion! Could you imagine? Ah, I'm jealous," Terushima laughed as he fell on his back. "But I wouldn't want to face a dementor either. Those nasty buggers can sod off for all I care. But then I'd never see a patronus either! What a dilemma," Terushima rolled onto his stomach as he looked at everyone, a big grin on his face. "Are you guys not even a _little_ bit interested about what your patronus is? Not in the slightest?"

Bokuto and Hinata made the obvious expression, wonder and excitement covering their faces as they nodded. Whilst Sugawara pretended to not hear the question, of course he was a little interested about what his patronus would be. Wasn't that sort of curiosity normal though?

"I want mine to be as big as a lion! Maybe a Hippogriff or a dragon!""Can dragons be a patronus?" Bokuto wondered out loud, stroking his chin and thinking about it. "That would be cool too, wouldn't it?"

The subject of patronuses - all starting because the curriculum for Defence Against The Dark Arts just so happened to be covering dementors - became the talk for the rest of the study session because honestly, even Sugawara hasn't been in the mood to study lately.

"I'm pretty sure mine would be cool no matter what," Hinata laughed, then looked over at Sugawara with an expectant gaze, waiting for him to contribute to the conversation. "What about you, Sugawara-san?" Hinata finally asked, his eyes wide and waiting. "What do you think your patronus is?"

Sugawara's eyes were gazing out the window where he could watch Tendou and Iwaizumi talking in the courtyard. It looked like they were in another argument, Tendou rolling his eyes and making a sarcastic comment while Iwaizumi scowled at him and probably said something along the lines of 'get serious here'. Sugawara, bemused and dazed, looked back at Hinata.

"Hm? My patronus?" Sugawara thought about it for a moment before looking out the window again. The clock was ticking. The sun was going down and the moon was almost at it's peak.

"I think probably a bunny or something, no?" Sugawara giggled, not taking his eyes off the window, watching Tendou and Iwaizumi go back inside. At that moment Sugawara got up as well, taking his books and papers. "Sorry boys, I have other kids to look after," Sugawara winked at them before heading out and back to the Slytherin room, knowing Tendou and Iwaizumi would be there waiting for him as well.

Hopefully Kuroo wouldn't be too upset when he found no one finished their homework that night.

"So you _can_ tell the future. You just don't want to tell me if Waka-chan and I have an outdoor wedding or not?"

Iwaizumi turned red as Tendou attacked him again. It was the nth time that hour, the three of them occupying all of the Slytherin room since everyone was out either studying or having dinner. Sugawara decided that he could skip a little bowl of rice for one night.

"Look," Iwaizumi said slowly, gritting his teeth as Tendou and Sugawara leaned in, waiting for him to continuing. "I went in, ate a few creampuffs, then left. That's it! Okay?" Iwaizumi insisted with a frustrated sigh, both Tendou and Sugawara leaning back again with a disappointed face.

This was the fourth week Iwaizumi has reported something like this despite Tendou and him pushing and pushing, no matter how quickly they got to Iwaizumi after a meeting with the Minister, they could never figure out what Iwaizumi was really doing in there.

Even Iwaizumi himself forgot everything except what he ate.

"Come _on_ , IwaIwa," Tendou pushed a little aggressively, slamming his hand on the table. "You even know that there's more to it. Dig deeper!"

Iwaizumi's face told them that he did know there was more. Iwaizumi knew, but he couldn't seem to recall what him and the Minister actually talked about even if all this time they've been talking about the same thing.

"Maybe it's the food," Sugawara guessed, making both Iwaizumi and Tendou look at him. Sugawara shrugged, leaning against their small table as well, no room for Iwaizumi to do the same. "Maybe when he feeds you he puts a charm in the food. Don't eat the food next time."

Iwaizumi stared intensely into the table, biting his lip as he tapped his leg, his whole body tensing. Both Sugawara and Tendou were watching him until Iwaizumi snapped, making them both flinch but they eagerly leaned closer in unison.

"The food," Iwaizumi whispered, looking up at the two of them. "I can't stop eating it."

Tendou groaned loudly, about to slap Iwaizumi in the face but Sugawara stopped him quickly, not wanting an unnecessary fight to happen. "That's all you can give me?" Tendou growled, threatening to hit Iwaizumi but Iwaizumi just narrowed his eyes. "I gave you an answer, didn't I? We're making progress!" Tendou spat at him, Iwaizumi having to wipe it off from his cheek, but calmly took a deep breath and didn't fight back.

"Obviously you can't stop eating it! They feed us horseshit in this place!" Tendou retorted, but Sugawara was deep in thought as he considered the other people who have been eating with the Minister.

"Futakuchi-kun," Sugawara said, getting their attention again. "Futakuchi-kun...is a picky eater. He doesn't eat unless Aone tells him to." Iwaizumi snapped again, hitting the table and pointing to Sugawara.

"The first feast we had together! He didn't eat anything. Then, uh, then..." Iwaizumi looked like he was wracking his brain, trying to remember more, but Sugawara could see the gears turning so he just patted Iwaizumi's head.

"No, don't," Sugawara said softly, shaking his head. "It's okay. We know a lot more than what we did 2 weeks ago. That's enough." Iwaizumi looked disappointed at Sugawara's abrupt stop to their brainstorming, but didn't argue like he had before.   
Perhaps Iwaizumi has learned that Sugawara wasn't one to charge at the given moment, but would rather wait for the right one.

Cursing to himself, Sugawara yawned and lay down on the cold ground. He gave his blanket to Tendou after Tendou complained about his delicate skin was burning on the hard floor.  
Sugawara actually had to talk to Futakuchi now.

"He's not a big fan of you?" Tendou asked with a snicker, no one in the Slytherin room yet except the two of them, Iwaizumi called down at the perfect time once again. "No," Sugawara chuckled, turning to his side so he could face Tendou.

"Not a fan of my muddy blood."

Tendou frowned at the word. Sugawara has noticed that lately when Tendou heard a slur he would get offended as well, telling people not to say 'mudblood' or discriminate against blood.

Sugawara appreciated it, he really did. But by now, he was numb to it.

"I'll make him _puke_ mud if he doesn't stop being a little bitch," Tendou grumbled squirming under his blanket and pulling it up to his chin, covering himself up nicely. "For fucks sake, this moon bullshit is attacking me. I'm freezing."

Sugawara sneakily took Futakuchi's blanket, giving it to Tendou and laughed to himself quietly when Futakuchi wouldn't stop screaming about it when he came back up for bedtime.

Sugawara's mission to get close to Futakuchi had to start with Aone. But since Aone and him weren't exactly buddies either, his next best bet was a mutual friend of Aone and him.

"Asahi!" Sugawara called out with a smile, walking beside him in the tight hallway, flashing a bright smile so he wouldn't intimidate him with such a festive greeting. It seemed to work considering Asahi's smile back. "Hello, Koushi."

Asahi was a good friend, Sugawara knew that much. Considerate, reliable, and much more fun ever since he let Nishinoya grow on him. Sugawara didn't mind leeching on him for a bit. "What class do you have now?""Oh, uhm, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Fun stuff." It didn't take a detective to realize that Asahi loathed that class.

"Ah, I see. Can't wait make a patronus?" Sugawara tried to lighten up the mood by bringing up a good side to Defence Against the Dark Arts. What better topic to talk about than your boyfriend?

"Noya-kun's was a really good one, wasn't it? Guess he's shown you quite a few times to show it off."

Asahi's jaw dropped, stopping in the middle of the hallway as he looked at Sugawara in shock and...anger? Was that anger? Asahi was rarely angry, that could just be surprise or a different form of depressed.

" _You_ knew about his patronus too?"

Sugawara hissed to himself, remembering a little too late what the Gryffindors (and Bokuto and Akaashi) decided on planning to tell Asahi instead of telling him, well, the truth. It must have slipped Sugawara's mind, just wanting to make a connection to Aone as quickly as possible.

"Did everyone know but me? Am I really the last one?" Asahi asked in disbelief, squatting to the ground and running a hand through his hair as he moaned in distress. Was he angry? Upset? Sugawara couldn't quite tell, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to find the right words to say to make sure Asahi felt better again.

In a spontaneous moment, Sugawara karate chopped Asahi's back.

"Don't be like that!" Sugawara yelled, making Asahi flinch and fall forward, catching himself with his hands and looking back at Sugawara with wide eyes like a deer in headlights.

"Noya-kun was doing it for your own good! He's a good boyfriend. And, uh, speaking of boyfriends...Aone and Futakuchi-" the school bell went off and Asahi looked panicked, realizing he was going to be late for class.

"Sorry, Koushi. I'll talk to you later. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher locks students in a dark closet if they're late!" Asahi explained in a rushed and hysteric tone, running off into the hallway and disappearing.

"Well..." Sugawara sighed loudly, flopping his arms to his sides. "Shit."

Sugawara's next best bet was Yamaguchi, but Yamaguchi was being given odd treatment from the Minister himself as well. So he had to be careful not to be too suspicious about his curiosity or else it might slip that the Slytherins were in the middle of cracking into the Ministers evil schemes.

And that Sugawara wanted to watch Minister Faiji drown in Sugawara's very own mud blood.

"Yama-kun. Is that a Phoenix?" Sugawara knew the story by now, thanks to rumours and talks of teenage girls and boys, he knew what he needed to know at least.

Yamaguchi was specially asked by the Minister himself to take care of his very interesting pet. Yamaguchi of course, said yes.

"Mhm!" Yamaguchi responded excitedly, showing Sugawara his bucket of worms, which Sugawara quietly grimaced at but held in his urge to vomit, nodding his head slowly. "Wow.""Wanna try feeding him?"

With a slightly shaky hand, Sugawara took a worm out of the bucket and quickly threw it at Fireball - yes, Sugawara even has heard the name already - letting the big bird catch it in his mouth, eating it in a matter of seconds. Yamaguchi looked so fascinated by it, his eyes following the magnificent creature as it zoomed around the sky.

When the Phoenix came back, perching itself on Yamaguchi's shoulder, affectionately pecking Yamaguchi's neck and squawking softly as it chewed on another worm Yamaguchi fed it, Sugawara managed to understand a little more why Yamaguchi agreed to the job.

"Fireball seems to like you," Sugawara mused, letting himself a little closer and stroking Fireball on the head softly with his knuckle. The Phoenix hummed, closing it's eyes at it indulged in the attention.

"Minister Faiji and you get along well, I'm guessing."

Yamaguchi stiffened, his smile falling a bit but his eyes weren't leaving Fireball. It was like something clicked in his mind, a realization for a brief moment as he rethought. Even his arm dropped a bit, the worm half eaten in his hand. It was Fireball's whining that made him snap out of his thoughts, bringing the worm back up to it's beak.

"Ah, Minister Faiji...he likes my parents. Me? Not so much."

Instead of taking the chance of talking about Aone and getting in a good word, Sugawara decided to take his time to get a deeper dive into Minister Faiji - which obviously was the end goal, much more valuable than Futakuchi or Aone (no offence).

"Why would you say that?" Sugawara asked slowly, casually leaning against the low fence of the courtyard, resting his chin against he palm of his hand. Yamaguchi looked back at Sugawara, almost shocked that he didn't seem to know.

"Eh? Haven't I told you? My parents status is a bit...I guess he just wanted to look out for me and knowing I like magical creatures but the curriculum here for it is a bit lacking in, ah, magical creatures," Yamaguchi laughed softly, scratching under Fireball's chin. "I don't think he likes me all that much. And he's creepy, so I'm just trying to be nice for now until we get out of here."

So this was what the 'unawareness' looked like. When the Forgetful Potion actually worked and you weren't as strong as Iwaizumi or Yaku, trying to remember and remember.

Or maybe, because Sugawara never once underestimated Yamaguchi, Minister Faiji targeted something even more weak in Yamaguchi, something that would end in inevitable ignorance to the situation.

"How's Tsukishima doing?"

The final blow made Yamaguchi push Fireball off his shoulder, letting the Phoenix fly freely in the air. Sugawara felt like he pushed a button a little too hard, but instead of freaking out Yamaguchi calmly stood beside Sugawara, a sad, small smile on his face as he put his hands together, looking up, not at the Phoenix, but at the clouds.

The formation. The shifting. The colour. The space they took up in the sky. Nothing interesting, but when thunder hit all of a sudden everyone wants to look at them.

"Tsuki is okay," Yamaguchi said slowly, the tone of his voice both endearing and cold. "When I come back to him, maybe I'll be on his level."

Sugawara hated how much he could understand that feeling.

Nothing ended up working in the end and Sugawara went on his days Futakuchi-less, him and Tendou were starting to think of ways to perhaps open up new doors and not get Futakuchi's help in his little revolution of theirs.

'Little?' Tendou responded to Sugawara with a scoff when Sugawara called it just a small thing because it was literally just him and Sugawara, maybe Iwaizumi if he was a little more helpful. 'This is going to be the biggest fuckery fuck we're pulling off! Be a little more wild, SugaSuga.'

Tendou and Sugawara hid that wild side from Iwaizumi a little longer, not wanting to overwhelm him too much.

So yes, Futakuchi hasn't been talking to Sugawara the whole time. Until one faithful day when Futakuchi came up to him after the showers for the Slytherin boys, pajamas fresh on his body and Aone standing behind him with his arms crossed.

That nonchalant eye roll, Sugawara wanted to roll his whole head.

"It has come to my attention," Futakuchi sighed loudly, looking back at Sugawara. "That I have been a bit unfair to you for a petty reason. Therefore I am gracing you with my time, and letting you talk about what you want to talk about with me. You have 5 minutes." The approving nod from Aone baffled Sugawara, and probably anyone who walked by them and heard the words coming out of Futakuchi's mouth.

Sugawara clenched his jaw and fist, not knowing exactly how to respond at first because he wanted so badly to punch Futakuchi in the face, but he told himself he waited 5 years to punch Tendou's so he held it in.

"Well, thank you, Futakuchi-kun," Sugawara said with a disgustingly sweet smile, walking over to him, glancing at Aone then looked straight into Futakuchi's soul. "Can we maybe talk in a little more private setting, hm?"

So now, the two of them were in the cafeteria, charming the doors to lock and putting a Silencing Spell on the room so no one could hear their muffled voices. If Futakuchi was correct about how they monitored the hallways, the they had 30 minutes.

"If it's about how I'm always with the Minister-""Can you let me talk please, Futakuchi-kun?" Sugawara asked in mocked formality, holding in a smirk as he watched Futakuchi widen his eyes.  
At least it made him shut up.

"I just wanted to ask," Sugawara started off slowly, taking his wand out and putting it in the middle of the table between them. "What does the Minister feed you? Don't bother lying to me, yeah? I'll know."

Sugawara was bluffing, but he needed answers quickly.

"Feed me?" Futakuchi snorted, crossing his arms and leaning onto the table, raising an eyebrow at Sugawara. "I don't eat things strangers give me. Minister of Magic my ass, all that title means is that he has more responsibilities than me. In the end we're the same skeleton."

Sugawara wanted to retort with 'then why the fuck did you call me 'mudblood?' but he decided to hold it in.

"So you remember what you two talk about when you leave the office.""Yes. I'm not stupid." Sugawara bit his lip and nodded with a strained smile. "Care to elaborate?"

Futakuchi looked genuinely confused, opening his mouth in what Sugawara thought would be another sarcastic comment but instead he loosened his shoulders and cocked his head to the side.

"He just asks me how I'm doing. Then asks what I want to eat. Then I leave."

Sugawara didn't hide his disappointment, hitting the table with a fist and letting out a desperate laugh. Of fucking course. That sounded like what a schemer would do, especially since Futakuchi and Aone didn't keep it a secret that they were dating or anything.

"Okay," Sugawara had to take a few deep breaths, feeling the heat in his stomach practically boiling in him as he thought about how to outsmart the fucking Minister of Magic.

A title that admittedly, was impressive even if Futakuchi didn't think so.

"Anything else? Or can I go now?" Futakuchi asked, his cocky tone coming back, Sugawara almost smacked his throat to get it out of him, but again, cooled himself down before he could.

"Yes," Sugawara answered harshly, cracking his neck as he stood up straight again. "Your Legilimency spell. Where and how did you learn it?"

Once more did Sugawara's question throw Futakuchi off, obviously not ready for it but he didn't seem annoyed or offended, nor intrigued or asked why Sugawara needed to know.

Perhaps Futakuchi knew also what was going to happen, or could at least predict as much.

"It was an accident, if I were to be honest," Futakuchi answered honestly, snatching the wand between him and Sugawara and pointing it at him, smirking smugly, and Sugawara used all his power and energy to make sure he didn't react, but he couldn't help it. The sudden spell on him caught him off guard and all of a sudden he felt very violated.

Everything went white, then flashes of rainbows and sparks, swirls of grey and white pearling around him without a trace of flaws, the sound of sizzling and fireworks booming in his ear. Then all of a sudden he was looking at Futakuchi again with a blank stare, not processing what just happened until Futakuchi put the wand back into Sugawara's pocket.

"The mind isn't a book, Sugawara-san. You can't read it that easily," Futakuchi got up from his seat and started walking to the door, taking out his own wand and opening the door, taking off the Silencing Spell as well.

"But Sugawara-san, your mind seems to be quite open, hm? Not...bad." Futakuchi gave him one last smirk before sauntering off, Sugawara didn't even have time to appreciate that Futakuchi started calling him 'Sugawara-san' instead of 'mudblood'.

Wolfsbane was quite a bitch to make, Sugawara was understanding why Tendou made other people make it for him.

"You added it wrong," Tendou frowned, pointing to the recipe Ushijima gave them, pointing at the third instruction. "Squeeze, not cut.""But if I cut it then I'll get more.""But that's not the recipe!"

It's been over an hour, and anticipating they weren't going to get it right on the first try was good on Sugawara, because as of now it's been almost 2 hours and they've barely made it past step 5 of a 30 step process.

How did Ushijima do this all the time?

"For fucks sake, move!" Tendou huffed, pushing Sugawara away from the counter and taking the knife from his hands. The two broke into the kitchen again, doing their regular routine, this time Tendou even found an opened bag of chips and sat on the counter to watch Sugawara make him his potion. But apparently Sugawara wasn't as promising as Tendou hoped.

"Fine. Make it yourself then," Sugawara seethed, not appreciating the criticism he was getting from Tendou, untying his apron but Tendou stopped him, keeping a tight grip on his wrist.

"Don't leave."  
"Then don't be a little shit and let me do the potion!"

Begrudgingly, Tendou let go and gave Sugawara the knife back, and this time Sugawara followed the potion exactly instead of improvising, reminding himself over and over again that this wasn't a real recipe for food.  
But at the same time he couldn't understand any of the ingredients and why they were put in a certain way.

"Okay, give me the Wolfsbane," Sugawara held his hand out, waiting for Tendou to give it to him when he finally made progress. He waited a few seconds before looking up to a frozen Tendou, hand mid chip grab.

"Wolfsbane. Tendou." Sugawara repeated demandingly, pushing his hand in Tendou's face. "Why am I not getting any Wolfsbane? This is _your_ potion, isn't it?" Tendou opened then closed his mouth before laughing nervously which couldn't be a good sign.

"Ah," Tendou nodded his head once before shrugging, looking down at the incomplete potion. "I knew I was forgetting something when I packed."

"Hello, this is Sugawara Koushi. May I please speak to Sawamura Daichi?"  
" _Oh, hello Sugawara-san!"_ It was professor Takeda who picked up the phone this time. " _Of course, I'll go grab him right now._ "

Of course, Sugawara has tried saying something to the people who picked up the phone, even having the headmaster on the other end one time, but he missed his chance because the ministry people, though claim they weren't listening, knew exactly when to cut the call before it got a little too informative. So Sugawara gave up on the phone calls and decided to do what he could at the school.

" _Suga?_ " The familiar voice made Sugawara all warm and fuzzy inside, his heart swelling up at the excited tone, Sugawara couldn't help but hold the chord of the phone tighter and smile to himself. 

"Hi, Daichi-kun."

The first ten minutes of talk was mainly nonsense. They talked about what was happening in their courses, the people they were stuck with, the way they thought it would take Nishinoya another week before he got suspended and sent here with Sugawara.

But they never talked, mentioned or attempted to bring up Sugawara's experiences at the school. Even though Daichi has hinted in letters that he had an idea what was going on - how, Sugawara wasn't sure yet - Daichi never actually asked and Sugawara never said anything. Not because he didn't want to tell Daichi, but because he wanted this phone call to last as long as possible.

"Oh, Daichi-kun. By the way," Sugawara said as casually as possible, knowing that his request would be near life threatening and dangerous, but this was for Tendou.  
And Sugawara knew Tendou would be a whiney little bitch if he didn't get his Wolfsbane.

"Can you tell Ushiwaka that Tendou forgot something in his drawer," Sugawara decided to go with, steering a little off plan. Instead of asking Daichi to do it, which was what Sugawara wanted to go with at first, he thought it would be much better if Ushijima were to send the Wolfsbane. First, he was Tendou's boyfriend anyway, and second, Daichi probably wasn't sure what it was.

" _Sure. It's something important?_ " Daichi asked, Sugawara humming a 'yes' in response. He could hear shuffling in the background, making Sugawara wonder what kind of phone they were using for these weekly phone calls.

"How's Ushiwaka anyway?" Sugawara asked, Daichi laughing in response. Was it weird that the sound of Daichi's laugh lifted up Sugawara's chest in the best way possible?

" _He sends Tendou flowers, right? Ah, he really has taken a liking to that garden. Asahi-san will be very happy when he comes back_." Sugawara laughed with him, imagining Asahi and Ushijima, two big, tall people, tending to a single little tulip carefully like it was the most precious thing in the world. A cute, but odd imagination of Sugawara's.

One of the ministry supervisors knocked on the door, making Sugawara outwardly groan, but he nodded, waving his hand to tell them he got the message. "Daichi-kun, I wanna talk for longer, but..." Sugawara and Daichi sighed at the same time.

" _Yeah. I get it,_ " Daichi hummed quietly, waiting for Sugawara to continue on, but Sugawara wanted an excuse to stay on the line a little longer with Daichi. " _I love you, Suga_."

Sugawara felt his mind explode, his neck and chest warming up to a temperature that wasn't humanly, while his hands gripped the phone tighter. He wanted to go home, he wanted to be next to Daichi.  
In that moment he realized just how much he hated the place. The food they were served, the lack of magic they were facing, the unfair and biased treatment. Sugawara was holding it in, trying to remain strong because he told himself it couldn't be helped right now.

But now that him and Daichi really felt the separation properly and, god forbid, were getting _used_ to it. Sugawara wanted to get out.

"I love you too, Daichi-kun."


	25. Tendou

Date : October 1 1997

Time : 7:17 AM

Current Location : Snuggled against the cold walls of the Slytherin boy's room (is Kuroo's foot on Tendou's ass right now?)

Mission : No Wolfsbane? No problem! Just make sure Minister _Fuck_ ji doesn't get in your way.

Tendou has been to jail before. Not prison - jail. He was suspected for no reason, got caught and detained, and if his dad wasn't an expert in getting out of those types of situations, maybe he would be in Azkaban right now.

Gross food? Fuck it. Tendou could use the sun for energy. Shitty place to sleep? Try a cellar and a cold ground that smelt like piss. People are being mean to you? Poor baby - maybe if your life wasn't threatened to get sent to dementor haven then 'mean people' wouldn't be such a concern.

Tendou wasn't scared of a little ministry hierarchy, like many other Slytherins in this place, especially since most of them were sent because of suspensions or suspicious behaviour. Not even Tendou could say he was sent because of his family because that would put his whole family under suspicion and then Tendou himself, and no, Tendou was not comfortable with that idea.

But Tendou has learned that humour was a great coping mechanism.

"Shit. It's colder than a pinecone up the ass in February."  
"I don't even want to ask if you actually know what that feels like."

Tendou had his first full moon coming up, his first full moon without Ushijima, and now he had to distract people as much as possible and get the attention off of himself for a bit.

What better way than annoying the shit out of everyone?

"Mmm, my boxers aren't that comfy," Tendou mused loudly, sitting up from his little place of sleep and looking down, Sugawara to his right in the corner and Kuroo on his left for some reason even though the Gryffindors were literally everywhere else.

"Tetsu-chan. Would you mind-""I'm one dumbass word away from kicking you in the nuts, Tendou. Shut the fuck up already." Kuroo groaned, flipping over on his blanket and covering his head with a pillow, squishing his face so his ears were covered. Tendou made a face, wondering if Kuroo could even breath, but didn't ask because if Kuroo died here, at least he died peacefully.

"TeruTeru." The loud ones were hard. Obnoxious and cocky, Terushima was one of the few people that could keep up with Tendou's energy besides Tanaka. But Tanaka avoided Tendou at all costs thanks to his little friend...Nesuniya? Ah, anyway, Tanaka didn't bother Tendou too much since Kuroo knew their relationship status and decided that it would be better if they just didn't talk altogether.

And apparently Kuroo was scary or something? Tendou didn't see it, but Tanaka seemed to listen to him when Kuroo was there together with him.

"TeruTeru, can I have your pillow? I need a fluffy surface or else I won't sleep at all." With a loud sigh, Terushima flipped in his blanket, opening his eyes to glare at Tendou.  
Tendou smirked back, liking the reaction a lot.

"I'd rather sleep outside than give you a pillow.""Sleep outside then," Tendou shrugged innocently, looking around the room to see his next target. "Shou-chan! Oh Shrimp-chan! I know you're awake!" Tendou sang out, actually getting up and walking over to the orange haired ball, leaning down so that his mouth was next to his ear.   
"Shrimp-chan, I know you're awake."

Hinata snapped his eyes open, gulping when he saw Tendou hovering over him with an overexcited, slightly creepy grin on his face. Hinata shook, trying to cover his eyes with the blanket but Tendou pulled the sheet back.

"Shrimp-chan, gimme a pillow or two, yeah? For your senior."

There was a big groan from the other side of the room, Bokuto's hair frothed around messily, it sort of looked like all of it was grey. How did Bokuto have grey hair anyway? Genetics?

"Someone, just give Tendou a damn pillow already," Bokuto growled, Kuroo in response kicking Bokuto's stomach. "Then you give him yours, asshat.""Eh? I'm the planning guy. The rest execute my plan."

Now everyone in the room was awake, watching Tendou's shenanigans and rubbing their eyes, trying to figure out what all the ruckus was. When they found out it was just Tendou being annoying, everyone was in a sour mood all of a sudden, already running on a lot of lack of sleep so their precious seconds in the dark were to be treasured.  
Tendou looked insensitive right now, not paying mind to this.

"Just, go to sleep already!" One person - Kogane - huffed, tossing himself on his side and covering his ears with a pillow. "For fucks sake," Futakuchi growled, throwing a pillow harshly at Tendou, Tendou catching it right away with a giggle. "Act your age, Tendou. It's not cute when you do that."

Tendou would like to report that he made everyone in the room that night loath him with all their heart, so no one greeted him the next morning and practically pretended Tendou was invisible for the whole day the next day.

"Are you sure you're okay without Wolfsbane?" Sugawara asked worriedly. Honest, short answer? No. Tendou had no idea, he's been drinking Wolfsbane for almost 3 years now and he had no idea what he was like without it anymore.

But it would be difficult for Tendou to get his Wolfsbane from Hogwarts now so he decided to fuck it and try a night without it. If he really needed it, then Tendou would take that risk of attempting to retrieve it - attempt. For now though, Tendou decided to see what life would be without it, maybe just for one night.

Besides, that's what his mom wanted him to experience, right? Independence or some shit.

"I feel fine so far," Tendou shrugged, looking out the window of their classroom, the sun shining bright into the glass and gleaming on the floor. Fine was an underestimate - Tendou felt so fucking powerful.

He felt like he could jump the walls, take down the building, climb a mountain and make love to Ushijima all under one hour then do it all over again. He felt ecstatic, this feeling not having been apart of his full moon routine in a while because of the Wolfsbane potion constantly draining him to the point of not even walking to the bathroom properly.

Imagine what actually being under the full moon would feel like.

"You're shaking," Sugawara hissed, putting a hand on Tendou's leg to make him stop, but Tendou couldn't. If he were to compare it to muggle feelings, it was like he had 4 shots of espresso and 7 cups of coffee all in one down, then a Redbull right after he went to the bathroom. His system was as energetic as ever, if he didn't piss off the whole room last night then he would definitely be getting looks right about now.

"Oh?" Tendou laughed, stopping his shaking but he could feel the vibration in his stomach and heart. Maybe because he's been taking Wolfsbane for so long and his body was used to suppressing his instincts, so now everything he's been holding in since then are now all going off in one go.

Or was this what his dad warned him about? How full moons affect a werewolf during the day too. If that was true, Tendou didn't doubt it for a second. In fact, Tendou would tell other young wolves himself that the full moon was a little piece of shit that attacked you every second of the week, not giving you a fucking break. Tendou felt like his whole body would explode any minute.

"Go back to the room," Sugawara whispered in concern, watching as Tendou started to rub his thighs over and over again with the palm of his hand, rocking back and forth.

Tendou could stand on the desk and scream at the top of his lungs right now if he wanted to. What was stopping him? Society?

"Tendou-""I"m fine," Tendou reassured Sugawara, sticking his tongue out when Sugawara gave him a stern look, not taking it to heart since Sugawara gave him that look all the time. "Trust me, SugaSuga. I got this under control."

The ticking of the clock rang in Tendou's ears and when the bell finally rang Tendou jumped out of his seat and started to head to the next class, not even checking if Sugawara was following him. The only scent Tendou could smell was lingering on his clothes, a trail of it going North East which was enough to keep Tendou sane for another few hours.

Another few hours. Could Tendou actually last that long?

"Go on! Eat your dog shit in the Minister's chair, yeah? Go, see if we care! While we eat out rabbit food-ah, no offence, cafeteria lady. Yeah, your meal was great, don't pay much attention to me."

Tendou could hunt. Tendou could find a fox or a lynx to munch on tonight, maybe a fish or two and he would be satisfied for the next few days because of just how much his wolf form actually ate.

No, Tendou didn't want food or special treatment. He wanted the Minister to notice him.

"Tendou, please," Sugawara sighed, pulling Tendou down back on his seat. "You're so embarrassing. Just...stop."

Tendou gave Iwaizumi the finger, and honestly, Tendou didn't want to do this either. But he knew full well of where Iwaizumi was going and what he was doing, how was he supposed to sit still? And if Iwaizumi didn't know what was going on, surely Minister Faiji did.

However, it's been a whole fucking month and not once did Tendou get called down to the office. No matter how loudly he cursed or how many insults he threw at the ministry people, he never got a warning or a threat that 'Minister Faiji won't tolerate this'. Nothing!

He was starting to run out of ideas - granted, most of Tendou's ideas involved being annoying and rude, but that didn't matter. He needed to get some fucking answers before Halloween.

"You know you're not going to get in there so easily," Sugawara scoffed as he watched Tendou pick at his rice and avocado - the avocado was turning black and the rice was stale - the two of them sitting pathetically after Iwaizumi called down for his proper meal.

"Well, Minister Faiji is missing out on an amazing person," Tendou hummed, pointing to himself. "I am a delight to be around. Not IwaIwa. Ugh, I can't even imagine what they talk about in there. IwaIwa's probably reading his palm or some bullshit like that. What does the Minister need to know anyway? He's the fucking Minister of _Magic_. Doesn't he know everything?"  
"I don't think it works like that," Sugawara shrugged, scraping the black avocado to the sides of the bowl and eating the hard rice. "I don't even know where the office is, to be honest. I would've offered to help you break in."

Tendou hadn't explicitly said why he wanted to go see Minister Faiji, mainly because he didn't want to drag Sugawara into something that might get him into as much trouble as it would Tendou because as we all know, Tendou had his fair amount of tormenting Sugawara for the first good chunk of their time at Hogwarts.

"Meh, doesn't matter," Tendou sighed, leaning his head back. The sun was at it's highest point of the day, meaning Tendou had a bit of down time. "IwaIwa doesn't even remember where the office is. I bet they charm it so it changes locations every so often."

Before Sugawara could add his opinion, one of the ministry supervisors came up to Tendou, a stern, straight expression on their face as they looked down at him, their wand out and held tightly in their hand.

"Tendou...Satori?" Tendou sat up straight, looking up at the supervisor, gulping as his heartbeat sped up a little faster. "Yes?" Tendou said slowly, waiting for proper confirmation that he finally did it.

"The Minister would like a word with you."

Tendou celebrated in his head, little confettis in his eyes as he shot up, nodding his head a little too enthusiastically, but he had a feeling this supervisor knew that Tendou's goal was this all along.

"Alright," Tendou smiled widely, putting his hand out, motioning for the supervisor to go before him. "After you."

Minister Faiji's office was more or less what Tendou expected - big, extravagant and worth more than the school times ten. This was the first appearance Tendou had in his office, he had to make sure he did well with his opportunity because he felt like it might be the last visit as well.

"Minister! So nice to see ya," Tendou smiled widely, plopping himself down on the chair in front of Minister Faiji and closing his hands together, folding them down on his lap and looking up at the authoritative figure with gleaming, bright eyes.

Minister Faiji looked at him unimpressed and rather uninterested.

"What can I do ya for, Mr. Minister Sir?" Tendou asked cheekily, crossing a leg over the other and resting an elbow on his knee, his chin on the palm of his head as his expectant expression remained on his face, waiting for some sort of indication of why he was there, but he could take a wild guess why. Tendou has basically been harassing every single student that's been visiting the Minister's office - Iwaizumi being his biggest target obviously - and now he finally got the attention of the Minister after calling the students out on their bullshit.

"Tendou-san-""Oh please! Call me Satori, yeah? Satori-kun," Tendou grinned, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow at the Minister. "That makes us sound more like friends, don't you think?"

The Minister looked at Tendou, his lips pursing into a fine line before he shook his head. "Tendou-san," Minister Faiji said again making Tendou smile innocently. "You've been causing a major conflict in my school-""Headmaster Akaashi's school." Tendou corrected the Minister quickly before the Minister could continue, making both of them silent.

"Excuse me?"  
"Headmaster Akaashi's school. Not yours," Tendou explained, not a trace of irony or a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "We're apart of Hogwarts, headmaster Akaashi is, well, the _headmaster._ We're apart of his school, not this one," Tendou smiled with fake politeness. "Go on though. Don't let me distract you."

Minister Faiji opened his mouth, letting it gape for a moment before sighing and actually continuing on, Tendou cocked his head in amusement. "You have been causing major distractions and-""I thought I was causing conflict?"

Minister Faiji let out a frustrated sigh, and if that was all it took to get on the Minister's nerves then Tendou got this one in the bag. "What?" The Minister asked in blatant irritation, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, because you said 'you've been causing a major conflict in my school'," of course Tendou imitated the Minister perfectly, "so I thought you maybe forgot what you were saying? Conflict and distractions are two different things. Don't worry, people get them mixed up all the time."

The Minister stared at Tendou in disbelief, chuckling weakly before leaning his elbows on the desk. Tendou eagerly leaned in closer with him. "Tendou-san, please. Let me do my job."   
Tendou managed to nod, not being able to contain his grin.

"You are being quite a misbehaved student right now, Tendou-san. And from my records I have from you, I believe that this isn't a good move on you," Minister Faiji seemed to have gained a bit of confidence back as he pulled out a file from his wand and laid it on the table, Tendou seeing what Minister Faiji was referring to and he couldn't help but snort.

All of Tendou's absences and detentions. Was this supposed to scare him?

"It would be quite interesting if we were to find out why you skip so much class, _Satori-kun_ ," Minister Faiji smirked at him, watching as Tendou looked at him with an indifferent expression. "Wouldn't it?"

So it was supposed to scare Tendou. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Minister Faiji were to report him, though Tendou was still unsure if Minister Faiji actually knew exactly what Tendou was. Maybe he had an educated guess, and that guess might have been right, but all in all Tendou still had a chance to play with the cards in his hands.

And with those cards, Tendou smirked back at the Minister.

"It _would_ , Mr. Minister," Tendou enjoyed the shocked expression on Minister Faiji's face, though it was slight and barely there. "Because you see," Tendou said slowly, uncrossing his legs, spreading them wide as he slouched in his seat, letting out a hearty breath.

"If you report me, won't they have to do a thorough inspection of the school?"

Because Tendou has gone through this before. When they suspect a werewolf present then the authorities come, guards from Azkaban show up at his house at 2 AM and demand a rundown of the place, ask questions and interrogate heavily even though it went against privacy laws.  
Tendou knew what he was getting into, and honestly, it didn't scare him at all.

"Listen, Mr. Minister. Can I call you Fai?" Minister Faiji looked unamused, but that just fuelled Tendou up even more, his cheeky grin not leaving his face for a second. "We both can't get caught. You know that much, right?" Minister Faiji raised an eyebrow at Tendou as Tendou pressed the palm of his hands against the desk, leaning in as his smug smirk heated up the room.

It was 1 PM and Tendou could already feel the full moon coursing through his veins.

"I can't get sent to Azkaban and you...ah, well you can't get sent to Azkaban either! Wow, we have so much in common!" Tendou giggled softly, narrowing his eyes as he watched Minister Faiji shift uncomfortably in his seat, his neck bobbing up and down in a gulp.

Tendou knew he should have used his upper hand to maybe help the other students out a bit. Perhaps he should have egged on Minister Faiji a little bit more to get some help and better schooling around here if he didn't want to get necked and sacked by Tendou, a minority student who could get sent to wizard prison just for being alive.

But this was his only card right now and Tendou couldn't waste it so quickly.

"Minister Fai, let's get something straight between us," Tendou's eyes went dark as he pushed his face closer into Minister Faiji's, cockily looking him dead in the eye. His blood was rushing through him, his head was fogged up as he felt every second fill him up with more adrenalin. Just thinking about rebelling against the Minister of Magic himself had Tendou terrified yet exhilarated all in one go, the rush flushing in his face as he exasperated with every inhale and exhale that they could hear together.  
Tendou wasn't entirely sure he knew what he was doing, yet he knew exactly what he was going to do.

"If I get sent to Azkaban, then I'm taking you with me."

Something in Minister Faiji must have struck because all of a sudden his eyes went dark as well, clenching his jaw, and for a brief moment, Tendou thought he won the battle.

Apparently, this was only the war.

"Satori-kun," Minister Faiji chuckled darkly, leaning in closer to Tendou, Tendou flinched and stepped back, not expecting that move at all. "Your little friend Ushijima-san is quite the skilled boy. Ain't he?"

Ah. So that was how Minister Faiji did it. The strained smile on Tendou's face was enough for Minister Faiji to peacefully fall back on his big arm chair, humming quietly to himself without any trace of regret, like the last few minutes didn't happen.  
Was Tendou a fool to think a plan like this would work?

"I'll give you an extra phone call, Satori-kun. Does that sound good to you?" Tendou clicked his tongue, obviously unsatisfied with the outcome because that was his only wildcard right now. And even though it pinned down Minister Faiji quite a bit, it wasn't enough.

Like Sugawara said though, progress was progress. Even if you were the only one to see it.

"I would like that very much," Tendou spat out with a sarcastic smile, wanting to give Minister _Fool_ ji the finger before he left, but when he saw Yaku Morisuke walking in after him he decided that it wouldn't be a smart move.

"Waka-chan?" Tendou said into the phone, the wire twirling in his finger like in the movies Sugawara made him much, grinning like a lovesick fool. "WakaWaka, you there?"

Tendou took the extra phone call of course, now being able to call both his mom and Ushijima when he needed to. Even though he couldn't say everything he wanted to, at least he didn't have to go back and forth every week and he could finally hear Ushijima's voice every week without having to wait for the every other. Not the perk he wanted, but he actually managed to appreciate it just a little bit more.

" _Hello,_ " Ushijima's deep voice made Tendou shiver in the best way possible, not being able to contain a giggle. " _Ah, uhm, TenTen_."

Tendou dropped the phone suddenly, not expecting being called a nickname like that. He had to quickly retrieve the phone and put it to his ear again, clearing his throat.   
"So-Sorry, wha-what did you say?" There was a silent shuffle in the background then an awkward cough. Just once more. One more time, Tendou would have loved to hear it.

" _You forgot your Wolfsbane. How did you do something so careless?_ "

Tendou kissed his teeth, Ushijima ruining the moment with his serious opinions and concerns. "That's whatever, call me 'TenTen' again!" He could hear Ushijima's serious expression through the phone and sort of realized just how much he missed it.

" _I can send it to you. I will walk to your school if I have to_." And oh, if it were that easy then Tendou wouldn't have declined such a romantic gesture. He would walk across the sea for Ushijima if it meant just a second with him.  
But alas, life was a cruel bitch, and twists of fates were hard to untangle.

"Don't worry, Waka-chan," Tendou said softly, not wanting to break the news to Ushijima that phones could be tapped into and weird people could eavesdrop on their conversation if they felt like it. Ushijima probably still underestimated muggles like lots of purebloods did without thinking. "I have this shit under control. There's an 'authoritative figure' watching over me this time. Nothing to worry about."  
" _Is there? Good then. It's about time."_

Of course, Ushijima didn't catch Tendou's sarcasm, and this time Tendou was actually quite grateful.

"Waka-chan, how are you over there, hm?" Tendou asked, biting his fingers as he waited for a reply because the last thing he wanted to here was 'good'. It would imply Ushijima was having a blast without him there.

" _Things are quiet here. Very peaceful_." Fuck. That was worse. " _But my garden has been looking good. The plants enjoy whenever I talk, so my throat is quite sore these days."_ Tendou snorted, wondering what Ushijima's definition of 'talk a lot' would qualify as. 

"Oh? What do you talk about then?" Tendou asked with a teasing tone. " _Regular things. Books. News. And of course, Tendou._ ". Tendou's heart stopped, just for a second, gripping the phone tighter and feeling his chest tightening, squeezing until his breath loosened out of him.

How could a moment feel so intimate when they were so far apart?

" _I like talking about Tendou the most. They grow even more beautiful when I do_."

Tendou had to hang up quickly because the sun was setting and too much emotion in one hit was too overwhelming. Hopefully Tendou's strangled whine and abrupt screeching was enough for Ushijima to understand that right now wasn't a good time.

Full moons. Disgusting, feral, and exhausting. 

Yet tonight, Tendou felt like he could stomp on the world.

"Ten..dou?" Sugawara stood warily behind him, close to the school, several metres away because Tendou warned him that tonight felt like a strong wave. Sugawara took his word for it, standing back with a net just in case, along with other supplies Ushijima always had when he waited for Tendou during a full moon. Towel, clothes and when the moon was at it's peak, a bar of chocolate.  
The chocolate was purely by Tendou's request.

"Shit," Tendou whispered as he felt the transformation starting, groaning loudly as he felt it in his bones, his muscles stretching and his spine cracking as he was forced into an all fours position and getting strained by his own strength.

"Tendou!" He heard Sugawara cry out, but Tendou had already became full werewolf and all he could concentrate on was the moon and himself. Literally nothing else was appealing to him.

And with a big breath, his fur being grazed by the wind, Tendou let out a howl.

The Minister didn't say anything as Tendou ran into the streets of their little abandoned neighbourhood, even allowing Sugawara to follow to make sure he didn't get caught. Across the park there would be a little mock up forest that Tendou could run around in to his heart's content because Tendou wasn't going to get caught.  
No. Not tonight.

Tendou could smell Ushijima and even though in his heart he knew he was nowhere near him, his wolf self couldn't help but follow the scent, trailing in front of him and tempting him with the opportunity to be with him again.

If they ever broke up, Tendou would be eternally fucked because his full moons would be filled with trying to find him.

"Tendou, slow dow-" but Sugawara's voice drained with every other noise in the forest. Tendou growled, pawing into the dirt and sniffing around, trying to get a good grip on Ushijima's scent again but it was faint. Was he going the wrong way? But Tendou never went the wrong way.

Ushijima was too far, it was impossible to find him where Tendou was right now.

"Tendou, please. I can't keep up!" Tendou wasn't listening, though his ear twitched when a twig snapped, making him flinch and howl again. Everything that moved was a black figure, shadowing in Tendou's eyes.

Which wasn't a good thing. Because now he didn't know who was Sugawara.

"Tendou?" Tendou bared his teeth, hissing at whatever came closer to him, biting into the figure with a howl and teared apart the flesh. By the taste of it it was rabbit.  
"Tendou!" The name made Tendou growl louder, clawing at the next target. No screaming, meaning it wasn't Sugawara, but Tendou still couldn't tell what was what or who was who.  
"Tendou! Listen to me!" Tendou glowered down, running on all fours through the forest, sprinting through the trees until he hit the edge where another street laid. Where was he again? What was happening?

Lights flashed before his eyes and the next thing he knew, Tendou blacked out.

Tendou's head was pounding and he couldn't move his legs when he woke up the next morning. Light streamed into the room and his body was laying stiffly on the cold, hard ground.  
Why wasn't he in his warm bed at Hogwarts with Ushijima's arms wrapped around his waist right now?

"Tendou?" Sugawara called out worriedly as he saw Tendou's eyes fluttering open, patting his forehead with a cold, damp towel. Tendou opened his eyes properly this time, realizing properly why he wasn't in a warm bed with Ushijima, cuddling close to his boyfriend while he quietly stared at him and waited for him to get up so he could go back to the Ravenclaw tower without getting caught.

Nah, Tendou was in this hell hole right now.

"Mmph," Tendou groaned, sitting up but Sugawara held his back to make sure he didn't get up too fast. "What...What happened last night?" Tendou asked even though he could remember some of it. Most of it was a blur and he wanted Sugawara to remind him properly and confirm that Tendou killed what he thought he killed and stopped where he remembered he stopped.

"Uhm, you attacked a tree. And a mouse. Oh, and..." Sugawara stuck his leg out and showed his calf, bandaged up with red stains on it, obviously not the best medical treatment but Tendou knew that was probably the best Sugawara was getting. He let out a soft gasp, covering his mouth, his eyes widening.

"Su-Suga, I'm so so-""Don't," Sugawara gave him a small smile, wiping Tendou's forehead with the cold towel. "I'll get you back one day. For now, rest."

Tendou wanted to protest, but right now, rest sounded good. He laid back down on the ground, Sugawara having set up two pillows under his head and gave Tendou two blankets, one to lay on and another to cover him.

If this was the first night, then what should Tendou expect from the next few?

"Ushijima sent the Wolfsbane," Sugawara said softly before Tendou could close his eyes, snapping them open right away. Sugawara had to stop him from sitting up too quickly.

"What?" Tendou asked sharply, raising an eyebrow at him, Sugawara looking at him with a cool stare. "Tendou," Sugawara said slowly, not flinching at the way Tendou looked at him, piercing his stare through Sugawara's eyes.

"Did you tell Minister Faiji anything when you went to his office?"

The slight hesitation from Tendou should have been enough for Sugawara to understand, but his curious look reassured Tendou that Sugawara still wanted confirmation, a whole story.  
Something Tendou wasn't in the mood to give right now.

"Just, make me my Wolfsbane Potion. Please," Tendou sighed, squeezing his eyes shut as he laid back down, blocking out any other potential conversation topics Tendou didn't want to talk about.  
Because also didn't have the energy right now to explain to Sugawara that him and the Minister were on thin ice with each other and Tendou was one dumb move away from being sent to Azkaban.

"Tendou." Sugawara's voice was stern, but Tendou kept his eyes closed, not daring to even peek to see if Sugawara was still staring at him. He heard a huff and footsteps leaving the room, and all of a sudden Tendou could breath a little bit better.

Tendou still went to classes that day, not wanting more suspicions to arise from the teachers or the other students, especially Iwaizumi who was already eyeing Tendou weirdly when he came into class, quiet and pale.

"Are you sick or something?" Iwaizumi asked with genuine concern which made Tendou feel an odd amount of guilt that he shouldn't be.

Why would he be guilty though? Because he worried Iwaizumi? Preposterous, Tendou didn't care about other people's feelings. Except Ushijima's, and maybe his parents. Sugawara was still on the fence.  
Was it the lack of Wolfsbane? Was that why Tendou felt bad? 

Ignoring the heavy weight on his chest, Tendou waved his hand, not wanting to answer Iwaizumi's question with a straight forward answer and instead sitting at his desk and resting his chin on the wooden table. The desk was uncomfortably small, especially for someone as tall as Tendou who already struggled with trying to find a comfortable sleeping position or sitting at a table with kicking anyone underneath.  
He had to wiggle his way in, his knees cramped up and perched on the bar at the bottom of the chair while he leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk. Basically in a ball position, Tendou pretended to be listening to the lesson despite his focus being elsewhere.

In fact, Tendou's focus was _everywhere_. Even though his energy was drained and he felt like he could faint at any moment, at the same time Tendou could feel the power the full moon was supposed to give him.  
Every tick of the clock, the whispers of the wind, the blow of the leaves, the sniffles of tiny mice in the vents, the buzzing of a beehive on the other side of the street - Tendou could hear it all.

The scents. Semi had extra carrots for breakfast. Yaku used a lemon scented soap with a hint of rose (probably from Minister _Fruitloop_ ji himself). Sugawara washed his body an extra 3 times and still had blood fresh on his leg, which Tendou still needed to apologize properly for. Tendou could smell it all and it was making him go crazy because he was so persistent to only smell one thing during the full moons.

And now, that one thing was gone.

"Tendou, you're sweating," lwaizumi pointed out, making Sugawara turn to him too. Was everything always this blurry? Or was Tendou just hallucinating? "Tendou, are you good, man?" 

Ushijima. If Ushijima were here right now, what would he have done? He would have made sure Tendou didn't go to class, that was for sure. He would have asked if Tendou was okay. He would have given Tendou lots and lots of food even if Tendou told him it was too much. He would have given Tendou a bath. He would have made sure Tendou drank enough Wolfsbane, but not too much.

Ushijima. What was he doing right now?

"Tendou!" In a cold sweat Tendou fainted in his seat, everyone gathering around him and watching his face pale out and his body going limp. Right about now, Ushijima would have already been carrying him to the hospital wing.

"Ah, Tendou, Tendou, Tendou. You really had me there, didn't you? Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot. _Satori-kun_ , I should say, yes? Per your, ehm, _request_."

Tendou wasn't even fully awake but he already knew who he was with and how much he wanted to punch a bitch in the face. He was already scowling as he opened his eyes, staring right at Minister Faiji. But before he could ask where he was or why Minister Faiji was there, he was looking around the room.

It was Minister Faiji's office, but a weird extension of it that didn't exist before, probably charmed there just for Tendou. It was a mock of a section in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, the bed the same, the curtain the same, down to the small desk beside him that had all the utensils and tools that Madam Pomfrey used whenever tending to students.

Everything was the same physically, but Tendou has never felt worse.

"Ah, what a show, hm?" Minister Faiji wasn't hiding his wicked, sadistic side anymore, showing his true colours in front of Tendou, presumably because Tendou was definitely showing his. "What would the Minister of Magic say to this? Oh, that's right! I am him!"

Tendou chewed on his tongue, getting up slowly and glaring at Minister Faiji, watching as the Minister walked around Tendou's hospital bed until he was in front of it, grinning with a weird friendliness that Tendou hated already.   
He already hated authority as it was, Tendou, but Minister Faiji was really putting a stamp on it.

"I think I'm a kind, generous person, Satori-kun," Minister Faiji started off, making Tendou want to jump on him but he noticed his whole body was numb. Because of the Minister or the full moon, Tendou would rather not know right now. All he needed to focus on was what exactly Minister Faiji wanted in the first place.

"After years and years of pushing and whining, I finally let headmaster Akaashi let mudbloods into the school. Ugh, that Akaashi. Thinking muggles need to learn magic and how we should 'share the wonder' - talk about _heugh_ ," Minister Faiji pretended to vomit, which would have been funny in another context, but Tendou didn't laugh. His face was straight and burning with anger.

"Sugawara is a muggle born. Not a mudblood, muggle born," Tendou hissed at the Minister. "There's no such thing as a mudblood. Just you and your stupid judgments!" The Minister watched Tendou with amusement, holding the bar of the bed. Tendou glared at him, not playing nice anymore, but he had no more damn cards to play, he was just going wild and flipping the table altogether.

Stupid move, stupid boy. But that was all Tendou was. A _boy_. Against this _adult._

"You know what headmaster Akaashi told me before this separation happened?" Minister Faiji hummed, not giving Tendou time to respond. "That he would just _love_ to see muggles and wizards hand-in-hand after this. All while muggles are hunting and killing our magical creatures and people. _Wizards_ are dying, Satori-kun. Doesn't that concern you?"

Tendou gritted his teeth, knowing that this was a trap. He wasn't going to fall, he was stronger than that.

"You out of all people should know what that's like, Satori-kun," Minister Faiji cocked his head at Tendou, a glint in his eye that set him off. "To be targeted for no reason. That's what the muggles are doing. If you were to show that support and help our magical population, _our_ people, wouldn't that make things so much easier on you? On _your_ people? Or should I say," Minister Faiji paused with a smirk.

"Kind?"

Tendou's brain froze. Everything in the room was still even though he could hear it all moving, buzzing and vibrating in his mind. Supporting the magical world, his magical world - that's what he was supposed to do, wasn't he?  
Muggles. What were muggles to him? Sugawara's parents? He hadn't even met them. Muggles were hunting magical creatures, wizards and witches all out of fear of the unknown.

Everyone was hunting werewolves, all out of fear of the unknown.

"You're a sick, cruel man," Tendou spat out, edging forward but he could only go so much. "Picking on children like this. You're just too cowardly to go to the real battle. You make me wish I _was_ a muggle." Tendou watched, observed, as Minister Faiji gave a blank look to him, let go of the bar of the bed and stood back.

Then, he laughed.

And he laughed hard.

"Oh, oh, that's a good one!" Minister Faiji laughed harder, holding his stomach, his suit crinkling as he leaned in then back, wiping a tear. Tendou clenched his jaw, finally breaking free with all his strength and trying to attack Minister Faiji, but the Minister already had his wand out, putting Tendou back in his place.

"Wish you were muggle. Is that really true, Satori-kun?" Tendou didn't respond, not because he didn't know the answer, but because whatever answer he gave Minister Faiji would know he was lying. "Well, Satori-kun," the Minister chuckled, letting him go, Tendou's whole body limping on the bed. He couldn't feel a muscle.

"It was nice chatting with you, don't you think?" If looks could kill, Tendou would be in Azkaban for murdering the Minister of Magic. "I'm going to head out now. Minister duties, you know?" Minister Faiji chuckled, using his wand to _accio_ a plate of meat and rice, properly cooked with a good portion size, right on Tendou's side table, the smell of it flooding Tendou's nose.

"Eat before you leave, yeah? Boys your age need their energy - ah! Should I say, _wizards_."

Tendou's eyes followed Minister Faiji as he left Tendou's little cubicle. walking out the door, leaving Tendou there alone with a plate of food beside him. But Tendou's raided the kitchen multiple times, he wasn't that hungry.

That was pretty much the only reason why Tendou was able to remember everything that happened in those few minutes, but for some reason when Sugawara asked him if he was okay his only answer was 'fine'.

"Yamaguchi? Hufflepuff?" Iwaizumi nodded his head, the two of them out at the courtyard, watching the 3rd and 4th years play a game called 'soccer' that involved a lot of running around and kicking a ball. To be honest, it didn't look all that fun.

"I read in one of the Care of Magical Creature textbooks," Iwaizumi explained, "that they're rare and needed a lot of care, Phoenixes. I don't think I would trust just anyone with a pet like that."

Before, Tendou and Iwaizumi didn't want to involve Iwaizumi too much in their own observations and plans because that would involve Iwaizumi knowing Tendou was a werewolf, or at least risk a chance of Iwaizumi finding out.

But now that the Minister knew, what was even the point? And Iwaizumi looked much more eager to discuss this more serious topic with Tendou instead of Tendou's constant bantering and silly comments.

"I know his parents are powerful, but I don't know how much. Honestly, you should ask Kuroo. Maybe even Sugawara knows."

So that's how Tendou got Yamaguchi cornered in the boy's bathroom, the poor Hufflepuff shaking with fear under Tendou despite their few moments of interactions when Yamaguchi would visit Tsukishima in the Slytherin common room.

"I don't bite hard, quit your worrying," Tendou bared his teeth at Yamaguchi, making him flinch but Tendou just laughed, petting Yamaguchi's head. "Okay, okay. I'm just teasing. Don't be such a wuss."

Ushijima wasn't good at making friends because he was blunt and social interactions were always awkward for the other party. Tendou wasn't good at making friends because of...this.

"I just wanna talk for a bit, YamaYama," Tendou leaned forward so their noses were almost touching, giving Yamaguchi a tight grin, Yamaguchi leaned back as much as he could, hunching his shoulders over. Tendou could feel his breath shaking, in all honesty he wasn't sure what was so great about Yamaguchi in the first place. He didn't seem to stand out, nor was he talented or emitted powerful energy.

But when Tendou inhaled sharply, all of a sudden he understood.

"I think I should be more worried about you than you of me," Tendou, cocking his head and sticking his tongue out playfully started humming an upbeat tune, backing away from the corner and letting Yamaguchi breath a little better. 

"Your parents are Aurors, Yama-kun?"

Aurors. The wizarding world's best defence system against the dark arts, basically pushing criminals into Azkaban and making sure they were kept there. Did you know that the rate of Aurors was less than 3%? Not everyone could be one, not everyone had the skill or the wisdom or the stomach. It was an intense job, a job for the strong-willed, the patient and the courageous. Your very _life_ depended on your job. PTSD was no uncommon after retirement.

"Please," Yamaguchi squeaked, curling up into a ball slowly in the corner. "Don't-Don't hurt me!"

This was Tsukishima's underling? It didn't seem like it, or it didn't seem like he got many qualities from Tsukishima. Or perhaps whenever Yamaguchi was with Tsukishima he had the confidence to be a little more cocky and rude.  
Whatever it was, at least this would make the talking process a lot smoother.

"I just wanna know about your parents," Tendou managed a sweet voice, pinning Yamaguchi in the corner, his hands pressed against the wall on the sides of Yamaguchi's head. "And their role to the Minister of Magic himself."

The title seemed to throw Yamaguchi off, gulping loudly, his eyes deepening either in despair or anger, or both. Tendou waited patiently, needing to get some answers out of Yamaguchi before Halloween came around, and even though that was a month away, it wasn't enough time.  
Tendou had full moons to worry about, the shitty place that he got sucked into and unintentionally became apart of, plus the stupid Lunar Eclipse that he thought he would enjoy with Ushijima - now he was using it for some sort of sick revolution that shouldn't be happening in the first place.

Tendou didn't want to be doing this to Yamaguchi either. However, here they were.

"They're good people!" Yamaguchi all of a sudden got defensive, sticking his chin out, making Tendou take his hands off the walls and step back. "They're not helping the Minister with-with _this_! You think I want to be here too?"

Tendou didn't think of that. He thought Yamaguchi was a pushover that just does what he was told, exhibit A being a few seconds ago when Yamaguchi didn't even bother fighting Tendou when he pushed him in the boy's bathroom and locked him in a gross corner. He supposed no one, pushover or not, would want to be in the situation they were in now.

"I know how he's treating muggle borns! And-And I know what he's doing with me too, but-" Yamaguchi hesitated, clenching his fists before glaring up at Tendou. "But my parents aren't bad people! They're not helping the Minister! They're just doing their job."

A gust of wind shot at Tendou's neck, chilling him all over the place and all of a sudden, Yamaguchi was a threat. It occurred to Tendou a little too late that if he was on Yamaguchi's bad side, then Tendou had another powerful enemy that could get him sent away.

"Calm down, calm down," Tendou tried again, stepping back to give Yamaguchi space. "I just want to know," he said slowly, "about the Minister. Like Iwaizumi, yeah? I know he's eating real good right about now, chatting up the Minister about pureblood things. What does the Minister talk about with you, hm?"

Yamaguchi paused, biting his lip as if he were trying to figure out what Tendou was about. Honestly, even Tendou wasn't sure what Tendou was about. He didn't know how Yamaguchi was useful now that he figured out Yamaguchi also wasn't taking the offensive side.  
Of course he wouldn't take the offensive side. He was a pureblood.

"We talk about..." Yamaguchi furrowed his eyebrows, actually trying to remember now which made Tendou's stomach do a flip. "We talk about...Tsuki. Yeah, we talk about Tsuki."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The halfway mark!! Woohoo, what a journey, right? Because of how far we've come, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about me. Thank you to everyone who has been reading this series up until now. I hope you continue to expect more from me!!
> 
> 1 - I'm a student! I start school in September (Specializing in Linguistics haha) and I love writing/reading.  
> 2 - My favourite book is 'The Castaways of The Flying Dutchman' by Brian Jacques.  
> 3 - I can speak 5 languages so far (on my way to 6!)  
> 4 - I have a part time job at a little known but big in size retail store called 'Uniqlo'. I work there often and my feet always hurt after a shift :(. But writing always takes my mind off things!  
> 5 - My favourite Haikyuu character (even though I love all of them!!!) is.... Aone! I got a commission with him and I use it as my iPad homescreen. It's my favourite thing :D
> 
> That's all I say for now! If I could know a little more about my readers that would be fun as well! Everyone stay safe~ I love you all!! <3


	26. Kageyama

Date : October 4 1997

Time : 11:26 AM

Current Location : Gryffindor Tower Boy's Bathroom

Mission : Sit with someone during lunch while not being an awkward bundle of nerves. Even just once will do at this point.

"Ca-Can I-" Kageyama huffed in frustration, gripping the sides of the sink as he looked in the mirror. His reflection was mocking him, his cheeks turning a stupid dark shade of pink just at the thought of practising this. He had a routine before every meal that happened in the Great Hall, Kageyama made sure he was alone in the bathroom for at least 10 minutes.

"Can-Can I-I, I mean, ma-may I-" Kageyama groaned, dipping his head in the sink, inwardly cringing at how hard he was trying at this, shaking his head and letting out a few puffs. This was a skill a child had, one Hinata has mastered probably the day he was born, and here Kageyama was, not even being able to ask the question when he was alone in the bathroom.

"Is-I-Is it okay if, uh, I, uhm," Kageyama cleared his throat, wiping the sweat on his forehead. "Would you like t-to sit with me for lunch to-today?"

Finally. Fucking finally, he asked himself in the mirror. After 10 minutes of struggling he's finally done it and now he had to actually ask this to another human being.

Which happened to be the most difficult part.

When Hinata left, Kageyama's average word count went from maybe 500-600 all the way down to 50. 'Good morning, Daichi-san' was a given. 'Excuse me' for when he had to pass people in the hallway. 'No thank you' when someone offered him a spot next to them in class. Then there were the curses, 'fucking shit bitch' whenever he messed up a spell and 'assfuck' for when he dropped something.

Kageyama's silence wasn't noticed, however, because unless he was with Hinata, it was always like this.

But Hinata taught him, practically begged Kageyama, not to be lonely while he was gone. Hinata went with lots of friends and was probably having a grand old time, and even though the thought of Hinata having a lot of fun without him made Kageyama's stomach twist with jealousy, he tried not to think about it often.  
Not when Hinata was waiting too to come home.

'Act natural, Tobio', Kageyama thought to himself, his shoulders stiff as he went out, walking through the hallways, trying not to bump into anyone as he made his way to the Great Hall for lunch.  
'Natural. Natural. Normal. Natural.' Kageyama repeated the words over and over again in his mind, but even he could feel the unnerving energy he was radiating as he strutted through the hallway, people turning their heads as the angry looking Gryffindor unconsciously stomped his way to lunch.

When Kageyama saw how many people there was to 'sit with' during lunch, his whole mind jumbled with the words he practised just a few seconds ago.

Not being a quitter, Kageyama went up to some other Gryffindors he recognized as his age and were in his class. Plus, they were also friends with Hinata, so that meant they were friendly too, right?

"Izumi," Kageyama said in a gruff voice, making the brunette flinch and look behind him, Kageyama unknowingly glaring down at him. "Sekimukai. Hello." The stiff greeting made both of them confused, not smiling like how Hinata did whenever Kageyama would awkwardly initiate conversation. Discouraging as it may be, Kageyama continued on.

"Can-Ca-Can-" Kageyama cleared his throat, sighing in frustration and clenching his fists. Izumi and Sekimukai shook in their seats, waiting for Kageyama to finish, eyes wide and anticipating Kageyama's next words.

"Ca-Can, uh, no, uh, _may_ I-" out of nowhere, Kageyama was pushed down, landing right on poor Izumi, his whole body slamming into him. Both him and Izumi landed on the ground together with a groan, but Kageyama was quick to get back up onto his feet and see who the culprit was.

"Fucking dumbass!" Kageyama growled, a Gryffindor 1st year who Kageyama didn't know yet was standing there, multiple textbooks in his arms and glasses crooked. With the way he looked at Kageyama, clearly his push was an accident.

"Watch where you're going, alright? Fucking pushing me down. Can't you see I'm trying to eat lunch!" The whole Great Hall was staring at Kageyama and the 1st year now, his yells echoing through the room, and as Kageyama unclenched his jaw and let go of his fist, he finally took in the water in the 1st year's eyes. The sudden bow threw Kageyama off as well, taking a step back.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't see you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" With every 'sorry' the sobs only got louder and the more attention was put on Kageyama. It now was not a secret that he was a huge, major, asshole.

"Please forgive me! Please, please, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me-""Alright, alright, just shut up already," Kageyama hissed which only made the 1st year cry harder. Honestly, did anyone have a backbone these days?

"Calm down! Quit your crying already, I didn't-""Kageyama," Daichi interrupted Kageyama's pep talk with his new friend, taking Kageyama by the shoulder and giving him a tight smile. "Maybe you should eat your lunch back in the Gryffindor Tower for now, okay? I'll come up and eat with you in a bit."

That was how Kageyama ate lunch alone again despite several practice sessions in the mirror and a sacrifice of pride.

" _Multicorfors!_ " Kageyama watched as Nishinoya pointed his wand to his pants, changing Kageyama's black trousers to a bright red. It made Kageyama annoyed, about to attack Nishinoya back but Nishinoya already turned them back to black.

"Yes! I'm finally catching up!" Nishinoya cheered as he looked into his textbook of spells with an excited grin, Kageyama wondered just how far behind Nishinoya was in his classes. Apparently raw power wasn't enough to get you through school even if you could produce a patronus in your 4th year at Hogwarts.

"Tobio-kun, hold the textbook for me, yeah? I need to look at the wrist movements while I do it," Nishinoya shoved the textbook in Kageyama's hands, Kageyama begrudgingly holding it up for him. It also made him wonder if Asahi was made to do this for Nishinoya whenever he did manage to get Nishinoya to do his homework.  
If that was the case, now he knew why Asahi was tensed up all the time.

" _Dy-_ _OO-ro. DY-oo-RO_?" Kageyama watched as Nishinoya practiced his pronunciation before holding his wand out and concentrated on an apple on the table, furrowing his eyebrows and talking a deep breath.

" _Duro!_ " The apple turned into a hard stone and Nishinoya squealed with glee, clapping happily as he went over to pick it up. "It's real! It's a real rock! Not edible at all." And to prove it, Nishinoya took a bite out of it, a crunch sound erupting from his mouth and he dropped the stone apple in shock, hissing in pain. Kageyama's eyes widened when he saw blood coming out of Nishinoya's mouth, grabbing the closest tissue and bringing it to Nishinoya's mouth, but for some reason Nishinoya was still smiling.

"When Asahi-san comes back I'm gonna be all caught up! He's really going to see the amazing things I can do!"

Kageyama's hands stiffened, yet managed to use his wand to help Nishinoya clean up, washing his mouth out and using a bandaging charm to seal the inside of his mouth up. "You're really trying hard for him," Kageyama observed, Nishinoya nodding proudly.

"Uh huh!" Nishinoya chuckled, sitting down on the couch, Kageyama joining beside him, pulling his legs up in a crossed legged position. "I was sad before because of this separation, but then Keiji-kun said something that I couldn't help but agree with," Nishinoya cleared his throat, sitting up a little straighter and putting a serious expression on his face, though it was obviously mocking.

"'When Bokuto-san comes back, I don't want it to be a sad reunion. Rather, I want to love each other more. So I can't just sit and sulk'. Isn't Keiji-kun so cool?" 

Nishinoya oddly reminded Kageyama of Hinata right there and then, how he openly admired someone and didn't hesitate to express affection. Kageyama wasn't even sure when Nishinoya and the Ravenclaws started getting all buddy-buddy with each other.

"You're checking up on Shouyou, right, Tobio-kun?" Nishinoya asked, his tone strangely solemn which made Kageyama's face scrunch up, nodding harshly in response, as if he were offended.

"Of course! He calls every week and I ask how he is!" Kageyama growled, feeling like he was being accused for something. That wasn't what Nishinoya was going for, and the way he flinched and eyed Kageyama weirdly showed that it wasn't his intention to make Kageyama feel like that.

"I'm just asking..." Nishinoya muttered, getting up from the couch and brushing his pants off. "I'm just saying. Maybe ask him more about where he's staying. I bet he has a lot to say about it," Nishinoya grumbled, Kageyama now even more confused, his eyebrows furrowing down and teeth gritted as he watched Nishinoya leave the common room.

"What's that supposed to mean? Oi! Nishinoya-san! What's that supposed to mean?" Kageyama shouted out at Nishinoya, but Nishinoya was already gone. With a loud huff, Kageyama flopped down on the couch, crossing his arms and glared into the fireplace.

Hinata was fine. If he wasn't he would've said something by now. Wouldn't he?

" _Kageyama! Kageyama, I figured out what we should be for Halloween, yeah? Hear me out though._ "

Kageyama found himself excited for Saturdays, not only because it was the weekend, but now he had something to look forward to. Every week he had a phone call with Hinata, and though they didn't last as long as he liked, he still appreciated every second Hinata's voice, laugh and whisper filled his ear.

To have him beside Kageyama again, Kageyama would appreciate every stupid word that came out of Hinata's mouth much more.

"Ah, right. Halloween," Kageyama's voice was low, not wanting to let out how excited he actually was to see Hinata again for Halloween since he wanted to keep his cool image.  
The phone calls Kageyama were allowed to have were always in the headmaster's office, and it was always only him in the room for privacy reasons. A quiet space for Kageyama to think and not be too embarrassed about the words he admitted and the feelings he let out every so often to remind Hinata that when he came back, they would still be dating.

" _I was thinking,_ " Hinata paused for suspense. " _A cat and a mouse! Cute, isn't it? Tanaka helped me with the idea._ "

Kageyama's eyebrows furrowed as he thought of them as animals. He didn't see what the correlation between a mouse and Hinata was, nor did he see the point, but by the sound of Hinata's voice he was very excited about it.

"So you want me to turn into a cat?"  
" _What? No, no, I'm the ca-Hey, wait! No, don't_ turn _into a mouse! Just dress up as one!_ "

Kageyama got even more confused, not understanding what Hinata wanted. He wanted them to be a cat and mouse, right? "How do I do that?" There was a pause on the other end, the gears in Hinata's brain turning and turning. All Kageyama could imagine was him being covered in fur and whiskers, and that mental image just did not sit right in his stomach.

" _Well, you wear all grey and put mouse ears on. Fake ones! Don't cut ears off of a real mouse!_ " Kageyama's second question was answered so he moved onto the next one.

"So you _don't_ want me to turn into a mouse?"  
" _No! No, don't turn into anything! Just be one!_ "  
"But I might as well just turn into one at that point, right? I don't know what you want!"

Another thing Kageyama has learned through this unfortunate turn of events, was that muggles celebrated Halloween differently. Hinata explained the costumes and the tricks and treats and the pumpkin cutting and the spooky stories.  
Even still, Kageyama was a little confused. A holiday that celebrated...celebrated what exactly? 

" _I want us to be matching! Is that too much to ask?_ " Hinata's voice was frustrated, Kageyama holding his breath because he didn't want Hinata hanging up quickly again, like previous phone calls already.  
"Okay! Okay, I'll match with you, just calm the fuck down, boke! You're being a kid!"

In other words, Kageyama wanted the phone call to last longer and Hinata did too. Both of them were silent for a moment, waiting for the subject to change smoothly.

"Oi, Hinata," Kageyama started saying, and for some reason Nishinoya popped up in his mind. How Nishinoya advised - or perhaps warned - Kageyama to ask more about Hinata's school and where he was staying. Was there something wrong with it? Kageyama didn't think so, but then again, he hasn't even seen the place.  
He didn't _have_ to go though, the headmaster reassured everyone that it was a safe place that was taking care of all the people who left perfectly fine, better even since they were the ones that had to go through this.

"Hinata, what's the place you're staying like?" Kageyama finally asked, wanting the itching curiosity in his mind to get scratched already. "They're giving you extra blankets, right? And pillows since you always steal mine."

The long pause on the other end of the line made Kageyama shift uncomfortably. If the place was even mediocre, Hinata would be gushing about it in seconds. But the place wasn't suppose to be mediocre - it was suppose to be home.

Headmaster Akaashi told all the students at Hogwarts that the place the other wizards and witches were sent away to was confirmed to just be an exact replica of Hogwarts.  
Same towers, same dorms, same showers. Everything was the same, just not all the people. The point was to make everyone feel as comfortable as possible so that no one felt out of place.

This separation wasn't supposed to make a divide - it was to take precautions so when they reunited, they would be stronger than ever together.

Muggle born students and pure bloods aren't two forces that were polar opposites. They were both wizards, both capable of great magic, great good and great evil. Though it felt like it sometimes, the separation of the students wasn't intended to discriminate or to out those who don't come from a magic background.

Kageyama believed that Hinata was a great wizard, muggle dad or not.

" _I sleep...I sleep..._ " Hinata started repeating, taking a huge breath before speaking into the mic. " _IsleeponthecoldgroundbecausetheHufflepuffgirlsweresentoutsideonedaytosleeponthegrassincludingNatsuandnowIhavetosleepwithTendoubecauseoftherainbuthekeepscallingmeShrimp-chanandKageyamaIwannagohome-_ "

The call was cut off all of a sudden, Kageyama cursing because this always happened. He put the phone down with a growl and stomped out of the room where headmaster Akaashi was waiting, reading the Daily Prophet - headline of the day : _Another Muggle Found Dead Beside A Centaur Shot With An Arrow_.

"The phone's Sound Charm wore off again," Kageyama sighed, because that's what happened - or at least, that's what he was told would happened. "Oh, I see," headmaster Akaashi said sympathetically, standing up and patting Kageyama on the head. "If I can squeeze you in for another phone call I'll let you know."

Headmaster Akaashi always said that, but every week basically all the students were excited to get phone calls so Kageyama never had the chance to give Hinata a second one.

Even though Kageyama knew phones were a muggle contraption, according to the Ministry of Magic the phones they were using were purely magic, using some sort of Sound Charm so you could clearly hear each other's voices. Since it was still new and in the works, however, the calls would get cut off randomly. Which of course was unfortunate, but Kageyama was being as understanding as possible.

"Headmaster," Kageyama called out, getting the headmaster's attention. "Yes?""Headmaster..."Kageyama said it again, a little louder.

"Where exactly are the other students staying? Where is Hinata staying?" Kageyama wasn't able to get the last of Hinata's message, talking too fast and too quiet, he unfortunately couldn't understand or clear the words.

Headmaster Akaashi gave Kageyama a tight smile, shaking his head, making Kageyama sulk and nod his head in understanding. It seemed that perhaps, after a month of seeing almost every student do that, headmaster Akaashi did have a heart in him, sighing softly and getting Kageyama to look up at him again.

"How about this, Kageyama-san," headmaster Akaashi started off, turning his whole body to face Kageyama properly. "If you improve your grades before, let's say, the first semester report in November, I'll talk to Minister Faiji about making another party for all of Hogwarts on Christmas. How does that sound?"

Hinata must be rubbing off on Kageyama just a little bit because all of a sudden Kageyama's whole face lit up and he actually smiled.

Kageyama's antisocial dilemma didn't limit itself to the Great Hall for meals. Classes as well were filled with anxious, stiff moments that Kageyama knew he had to overcome, although it wasn't as simple as it sounded.

"Severing Charms. You learned this in your 2nd year, but we're reviewing it again. And this time," the Charms professor grinned at them, pointing his wand teasingly at the students. "With a bit of 'darkness' added to it."

Classes didn't feel any different either. The only main difference for Kageyama was Hinata gone, and of course that was a big difference, but to the class itself not really. All the seats were filled - Kageyama assumed they took desks away so it wouldn't feel as empty - and the professors acted the same - they can't all be sulking, can they? - and everyone was carrying on with their classes and assignments as per usual.   
Just, Kageyama was missing a little ball of sunshine beside him, who would have threatened to hold his hand during class if Kageyama didn't kiss him goodnight.

"So, we learned that Severing Charms are used for precise cuts, yes?" The Charms professor went on, charming his piece of chalk to write on the blackboard. "Hair, clothes - we can use Severing Charms for these sorts of things for perfect, seamless cutting. However, used in the wrong wizard's hands, Severing Charms can be deadly and life threatening. We'll discuss why and how we can deflect this sort of charm as well."

Slytherins shared this class with Gryffindors, and Kageyama felt like he was suffocating. Not only were the Slytherins overpowering the class, making up 80% of it in numbers, but Tsukishima was sitting next to him due to the odd amount of students in the class and no one was sitting beside Kageyama in the first place.

"You forgot your textbook," Tsukishima stated blankly, like he expected Kageyama to forget his textbook. The tone pissed Kageyama off, elbowing Tsukishima in the gut, which Tsukishima responded back with a kick to the shin.

"How about His Royal Highness calms down before we get caught, huh?"  
"Maybe if you stopped calling me _His Royal Highness_ , I wouldn't lose my calm in the first place."  
"Oh? Does the title bother you? I haven't noticed. My apologies. Would you rather I call you 'peasant filth' or 'Kagey-ou're-a-piece-of-shit?"  
"How about I call you 'Tsukishima Kei' because that's an insult enough!"

Maybe because Yamaguchi was gone, or maybe something was up his ass this year, but Tsukishima seemed to be a bigger bitch than usual and that was saying something. To be honest, Kageyama wasn't even sure what he did to be treated this way, but whatever it was he wasn't just going to stand there and take it. Hence, their relationship now.

They're unhealthy, mutual hatred for each other, amplified through the years and only now when their source of joyous tranquility was gone, they realized just how _much_ their unhealthy, mutual hatred stretched.  
And it was stretching far.

"Maybe if you master this Severing Charm you can cut your ego down to size," Tsukishima snickered, taking his wand out and holding it up to a piece of cloth the Charms professor set out for all the students to practice with.

"Huh. Funny," Kageyama spat out, taking his wand out too. "I always assumed that Severing Charms could be used to cut out people from your life. You certainly like to do that."

That definitely got a reaction, Tsukishima whipping his head and glaring at Kageyama. " _What_ did you just say?"

How could Kageyama not smirk at such a face, such words that were hissed out like venom meant to kill Kageyama, but that wasn't happening. With a small turn of the head, Kageyama looked at Tsukishima, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I just assumed," Kageyama shrugged innocently, having a tight grip on his wand. "You like cutting Yamaguchi out-"

Tsukishima launched himself at Kageyama and brought both of them to the ground, which took Kageyama by surprise at first, but he was quick to respond, placing his hands on Tsukishima's neck. Tsukishima seemed like he didn't think far enough ahead when he attacked Kageyama, giving Kageyama enough time to flip them over so he was on top, straddling Tsukishima's stomach and holding him in a choke.

Everyone was watching by now, the professor coming over and snapping at them. "Boys, stop that right now! Stop it! Stop it, I say! I'll be calling the headmaster!"

Kageyama and Tsukishima didn't hear, nor did they care. Tsukishima was too busy choking, using his leg to kick Kageyama on the back harshly, giving him a window of opportunity to flip them over again. When Tsukishima was on top he took a few deep breaths before taking his wand out. Kageyama's eyes went wide, darting around the room to find his wand still on his desk.

" _Serpensortia_."

A snake emerged from Tsukishima's wand, landing on Kageyama's face, slithering around and hissing. In a fit of rage, Kageyama pushed the snake onto Tsukishima, trying to punch him but Tsukishima dodged the fist, using the snake to slowly wrap around Kageyama's throat. Kageyama could feel the scales, the sliminess to it and the rattle of it's tail next to his ear, tormenting him. The snake's grip tightened, and for a brief moment he thought the last thing he was going to see before blacking out was Tsukishima's stupid, smug face.

"Enough." A gruff, deep voice said, Kageyama recognizing it right away as headmaster Akaashi's. The snake suddenly vanished, making Kageyama cough as he felt himself breath again, and Tsukishima got off of Kageyama.

Headmaster Akaashi looked neither impressed, nor angry. Rather, he looked disappointed. Which was much worse.

"My office," was all he said. "But headmaster-" both Kageyama and Tsukishima started off, glaring at each other when they spoke at the same time. But headmaster Akaashi's turn made the room grow cold, narrowing his eyes at the both of them. Everyone watching was still, gaping in awe and fear. 

"My. Office. Now."

Usually when Kageyama was sent to the headmaster's office, it was with Hinata. He was sad to say his streak of always being allowed to say 'Sherbet Lemon' before entering was broken, and Hinata was not the one beside him anymore.

"Boys," headmaster Akaashi sighed, rubbing his face and shaking his head, like he needed to process what just happened before he could even talk to them about it, much less punish them for it.

Kageyama felt a strange amount of guilt in him now, thinking about how much headmaster Akaashi already had on his plate, and how Daichi would get stressed just from being a student and taking care of Kageyama. Headmaster Akaashi had an actual job and actual kid, so even though Kageyama knew that something like this would happen again, there would be a small voice holding him back from now on.  
Especially if it involved Tsukishima, he wouldn't hesitate a fight.

"I know fighting seems fun now, but trust me, it does no good for anyone. This isn't uncommon in boys your age though so I'll let you off with a detention-" Kageyama groaned while Tsukishima scowled, but headmaster Akaashi slammed the table, getting them both to sit up straight.

"This is me being nice! Kageyama-san, I really thought you'd be more mature about this. Especially after requesting more phone call opportunities. You're really not proving anything by acting up." Kageyama gritted his teeth and crossed his arms, knowing that he shouldn't be misbehaved, but Tsukishima started it! Wanting to argue but holding back, Kageyama just nodded.  
"And you, Tsukishima-san," the headmaster looked over to Tsukishima with a sigh. "I would hate to pull your parents out of work just to talk to you. You haven't been the best student nowadays either."

Kageyama raised his eyebrow at this, so used to Tsukishima just being quiet and smart that hearing he's been acting up too was a bit of a shock. However, he could see it. Tsukishima wasn't the cuddliest of kids either, but Kageyama couldn't judge him on that.

"I'm tell you because I care. As a headmaster and as a parent," headmaster Akaashi went on, looking between the both of them and crossing his hands together, laying them on the desk. The normal adult move when they try to go down to a kid's level to be less 'intimidating'.

"Stop this feud now. Before you regret it."

Kageyama and Tsukishima left the office in less than 20 minutes, now with detentions on Wednesday together. Detention was always different depending on the situation, but Kageyama had a feeling it would involve writing some sort of paper that Tsukishima would finish within an hour and leave Kageyama desperate at his desk, trying to remember how to spell his first family name.

"This is your fault, I hope you know," Tsukishima muttered beside Kageyama, the two of them walking to their next classes, which unfortunately they had together again. "Just wanted to let you know."

"Oh, thanks," Kageyama replied sarcastically. "Let me get you a fruit basket and a thank you card. I'll have it sent to your room personally."

The two of them walked in silence up until the door, stopping and waiting for one of them to open it, but they just stood there. Both of them didn't want to go to class, but also didn't want to risk getting caught skipping and a potential extra detention.

"I hope you know this is why you and Yamaguchi aren't a good match," Kageyama grumbled, but he was loud enough for Tsukishima to hear him. 

And the blond didn't hesitate to smack the back of Kageyama's head. "Now, now, Your Highness," Tsukishima didn't look at him, instead pushed his glasses up and glared at the door.

"What exactly is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Kageyama didn't hit him back this time, only glaring at the door with him. He didn't know what he was saying, just knowing Yamaguchi was a trigger word for Tsukishima, and shit, did Kageyama want to get something out of Tsukishima. Maybe Yamaguchi was the reason why Tsukishima's been acting out these days and being more of a bitch than usual.  
Or maybe Tsukishima was always like this, just Yamaguchi balanced it out.

"It means," Kageyama finally looked at Tsukishima even though Tsukishima wasn't looking at him. "Not only are you a shitty person, but you're a shitty friend too."

That night Kageyama was on his own again. The room he shared with Hinata was only left with him and one other person, but like before, Kageyama wasn't the friendliest of the batch and therefore, didn't even know his name. He didn't want to anyway though, so what did it matter.

During dinner time, instead of exhausting himself with eating alone in the Great Hall, Kageyama would bring his food up to the bedroom and sit in front of the Polaroid of him and Hinata that was taken before he left.

Then, he would talk about his day.

"Tsukishima's a bitch. I hope he gets run over by a dragon. Or Noya-san," Kageyama grunted, stuffing his mouth with beef and rice. "Did you know Sugawara-san can speak Greek? Daichi-san was talking about it today, but I can't remember why. I think something about his dad, but to be honest I don't even know what Greek is. Is it, like, in America? I think so..."

When Kageyama first started doing this, he felt creepy. He was alone, all by himself, sitting in the corner in front of his side table and talking to a still photo like a lunatic, and to make it worse, Hinata not responding or commenting back was very out of character that it made the interaction even more unrealistic.

But it calmed Kageyama down. It got things out of his system because a 15 minute phone call was never enough for him. "What else...Ah! Kunimi-san. He gave me my textbook back today. I think he didn't care who took it though because apparently he tried reselling it before too. Good thing Shirabu-kun caught him though. Shirabu-kun is a Slytherin, did you know that? Not sure if you've met him yet. His bangs are to the side like this," Kageyama used his hand and slanted it on his forehead, "and he's pretty good at Flying, but he didn't make the Quidditch team. I don't know if you'll like him though."

This might have been the most Kageyama's talked in his lifetime, though it did make good practice for when he were to talk to real people.

"My sister wrote back, by the way," Kageyama looked at the Hinata in the photo who was kissing Kageyama on the cheek, his heart swelling up at the thought of Hinata excited to meet his sister.

"She said she would be happy to come over, but it might take her a while. It was hard explaining you to her though, so she only knows your name so far. I'm sure she'll like you. Lots of people like you."  
Kageyama coughed awkwardly, feeling his cheeks redden as he admitted such a thing, and then he turned even more pink feeling silly for getting embarrassed on his own.

"God," Kageyama hit his forehead with the back of his hand, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "I miss you so much."

After finishing his first plate of food, Kageyama downed a whole glass of milk, then rubbed his hands on his pants before sitting up a little straighter to look at still-photo-Hinata. 

"Where are you..."

After what Nishinoya said, what Hinata mumbled in the phone call and what headmaster Akaashi keeps insisting, Kageyama was getting more suspicious about where Hinata _actually_ was and not where people were telling him he was.  
A replicated castle like Hogwarts, but what was the location? Coordinates, routines, schedules - Kageyama knew none of it. 

"Where are you? Really boke, _where_?"

Kageyama knew the photo wasn't going to respond, even if it was charmed to move. All he could think about though, was how Hinata was somewhere far off, wearing Kageyama's sweater and waiting for something to happen.

Waiting...for Kageyama?

  
"Fuck it."

Kageyama stood up, grabbing a black hoodie and throwing it over his Gryffindor jersey. He already had black pants on, and for extra measure, he put on some sunglasses on and put his hood on, really covering as much as possible. At least it was October so the weather permitted for such an outfit.

"I'll find you first then, boke. Since you're too much of a dumbass to do this yourself," Kageyama scowled, making sure his wand was in his pocket before looking at the photo of a deranged Kageyama getting a surprise kiss from his little boyfriend. Before he left the room he gave still-photo-Hinata a quick kiss goodbye and a promise that they would see each other very soon.

Except, Kageyama really had no clue where he was going. The minute he stepped out of Hogwarts, he got lost. 

The obvious route was the opposite direction of the Forbidden Forest - he never wanted to go there again. And getting past the water, which was troublingly quite easy, even for Kageyama. Apparently there's a giant octopus in the moat he had to avoid (Kageyama really wanted to see it, but didn't want to get caught that early in the game) but even that was child's play because the octopus was asleep anyway.

So now, Kageyama was on dry land, kilometres away from Hogwarts and clueless as to where he was going. He didn't even have any references, clearly not thinking the plan to through, even as he left he didn't know what he was doing. 

All he knew was the he _really_ wanted to see Hinata again.

"Stupid bush," Kageyama growled as his foot got caught in a shrub, having to shake his foot out and get himself untangled. Unfortunately, it caused him to fall on the ground with a grunt, huffing in frustration and now his black attire had a splash of brown.

"Argh!" Running away was harder than he thought it would be. His disguise - if you could even call it that - was useless since no one even caught him or was looking for him now, probably because it was literally the middle of the night and the prefect scouting the Gryffindor area was too scared to confront Kageyama. 

His sunglasses kept falling off, but he refused to actually take them off because they were apart of the disguise, and it was starting to get hot in his hoodie. All in all, this adventure of his wasn't fun, wasn't efficient, and now he was one step closer to getting Saturday detention and a phone call less.

"Kageyama?"

Kageyama snapped his wand out and flinched, turning around to see who it was. How did they recognize him? He had a disguise on!

"Tsukishima?"

They both stared at each other, mouths slightly ajar when they realized they were both out, probably with the same goal and therefore, inevitably going together. And if they got caught, then the punishment would increase the same ways, and that was another few moments they would have to be together.

"What are you doing here?" Tsukishima asked, as if that completely justified why Tsukishima was there also in the first place.

"Me? What are _you_ doing here?" Kageyama countered, not putting his wand down, but Tsukishima didn't look intimidated at all, walking past Kageyama with a shrug.

"I'm off to see Yamaguchi."

He said it like it wasn't a big deal, like he's been doing it all along, and if he had been then Kageyama would be real pissed not even thinking to tell anyone what the new school was like.

"Oi! Oi, come back here, you piece of turd. Where do you think you're going?" Kageyama stomped after him despite Tsukishima walking calmly and normally. Kageyama acted like he was accusing Tsukishima of something, but in reality, he was just following him, hoping he could be taken to the school too if he did since Tsukishima probably had a better idea of where they were going.

"Hey! Hey, come back here! You fucking-fucking trashy shithead! Look at me!"

Tsukishima didn't look at Kageyama, luckily, and Kageyama got free directions to where Hinata was staying.

Kageyama didn't remember Hogwarts looking like a pile of shit with a bow on top. 

The grey crusted walls made it look like a muggle prison, the windows had bars on some of them that Kageyama just had to question, and there were several parts of the walls broken and chipping off, that if Kageyama threw a big enough rock hard enough, at least half of the building would collapse.  
Of course, that was a hypothetical situation.

"You got the wrong place, dumbass," Kageyama growled to Tsukishima, not believing that _this_ disgusting place was where all the Hogwarts kids were staying. If it was, then headmaster Akaashi was lying, and headmaster Akaashi doesn't lie.

That, or headmaster Akaashi doesn't know either. But that was unlikely too. Wasn't it?

"This is clearly some sort of broken down shitshack. I'm not falling for it! Now come on, let's look for the real place already."

Tsukishima stayed put, looking up at the building, confidently planting himself that it made Kageyama hesitate. After hours of walking, almost having it be 3 in the morning, an awkward subway ride that Kageyama had to beg to get on because he didn't have money for a ticket and Tsukishima was too much of a bitch to lend him some, and actually losing Tsukishima for a moment in a crowd of people, they finally got to here.

A disgusting looking grey box that Tsukishima was silently claiming was the school that headmaster Akaashi sent all the muggle born students to.

"This isn't it. This isn't it! Headmaster Akaashi wouldn't-""Terushima, I'm going to kick you the fuck _out_! I told you to save hot water for us, you fuckface! Honestly, you're sleeping outside if I hear another word from you!"

Kuroo's voice echoed out of one of the broken windows, making Kageyama stop, widening his eyes up. 

No. This couldn't be where they were staying. They were staying at a nice place, with tall towers and hot water whenever they wanted, charmed so that muggles couldn't see it.   
Not here. Definitely not here.

"Bokuto, I told you to put that dow-not in your mouth! Out of your mouth, now!" Sugawara's voice followed Kuroo's from the same window, which led Kageyama to believe they were sharing rooms. Odd, because Slytherins and Gryffindors usually never shared rooms - houses never shared rooms, period.

"Lev? Lev, move your legs, you're kicking me," Kogane groaned next, Kageyama furrowing his eyebrows as he unconsciously stepped closer. Different grades were sharing a room too? That wasn't right either.

"Hinata, wake up. Natsu needs to go to the bathroom."

Kageyama's eyes widened, putting a foot forward to sprint to the building, but something grabbed his hood and pulled him back. Gritting his teeth, Kageyama harshly gripped Tsukishima's wrist and made him let go, but Tsukishima just took Kageyama's other hand instead and pulled him back.

"If we get caught then we're _all_ in trouble. Not just us."

How could Tsukishima be so calm in such a situation? Yamaguchi was in there too, in that gross place, and Tsukishima was standing like it was nothing? Shouldn't they be doing something?

"I just wanted to see," Tsukishima said, like he could read Kageyama's question filled mind, "and confirm."

Before Kageyama could ask what that was supposed to mean, Tsukishima took Kageyama's hand and his wand out, swirling it around. Kageyama let go too late, Tsukishima having already teleported them back to Hogwarts.

"Why would you do that?!" Kageyama screamed, kicking Tsukishima in the knee, making him kneel on the ground. The two landed on the Quidditch field, 4 AM and sleep deprived, but Kageyama now felt like he had all the energy in the world.

"We didn't even get to see them! You know what, I-I bet you're playing a prank on me. You are, aren't you, you little shit? Making me think they're actually staying in a place like that. Fuck you, Tsukishima. Fuck you to the moon and back!"

Kageyama kicked dirt at Tsukishima before turning around to storm back to Hogwarts, not wanting to deal with the cocky bastard. "That's where they're staying," Tsukishima called out after him, letting out a dry, cold laugh. "But if you want to ignore it then go ahead. Not my problem."

His eye twitching, Kageyama turned around and angrily walked up to Tsukishima. Tsukishima didn't move from where he was, instead standing up and waiting for Kageyama to approach him. Kageyama grabbed Tsukishima by the collar, lifting him up barely so Tsukishima was on his toes, clenching his jaw as he looked at Tsukishima with a deadly glare, sunglasses long gone and his hood off.

All Tsukishima did was grin.

"You think this is fucking funny?" Kageyama asked in a quiet voice, bringing Tsukishima closer to him by the collar of his shirt. "Don't even answer. I know you don't care about all those muggle born kids, and you don't even care about Yamaguchi. But honestly, can your cruelty have some limits?"

The comment set Tsukishima off, but he didn't attack Kageyama like he anticipated. Instead, Tsukishima's grin dropped and he gave Kageyama the same dirty, exasperated look.

"You say it like it's my fault they were sent there," Tsukishima said blankly, his expression as if he was bored which pissed Kageyama off even more. "Shouldn't you be talking to the headmaster about this?"

Kageyama let go of Tsukishima's collar, letting him stand up properly again, and this time took his wand out to point to Tsukishima's chest, Tsukishima not hesitating to point his to Kageyama's neck.

"How did _you_ know where to find them then?" Kageyama asked, not caring before, but now he had more questions ever in his life, most of them about Tsukishima now.

Tsukishima hummed, raising an eyebrow before sighing, deciding to play nice. "My dad," Tsukishima started off slowly, the sun behind him starting rise so it made it look like there was an angelic outline around Tsukishima.  
How much Kageyama hated it, he couldn't even put into words.

"My dad's papers were on his desk and that address was there. Sorry, Your Highness, but this was a one time trip. Make sure to pay up to the Tsukishima residence before the year ends though, alright?"


	27. Tsukishima

Date : October 8 1997

Time : 5 PM

Current Location : Janitor's Dungeon 

Mission : Detention sucks, but father is terrifying, so scrub the floors with the toothbrush given and make the place spotless already.

It was an accident, really. Tsukishima didn't mean to see it. Saturday school was a way to get his mind off of Yamaguchi's absence and try to focus on other things that he had before Yamaguchi came to Hogwarts, studying being the best option. And what better thing to study than what his parents did for a living?

Magical Law was quite interesting in Tsukishima's opinion, not his passion or anything, but he didn't mind reading dozens of essays and entries about it either. He liked to read about how muggles used to be detained whenever they found anything remotely close to the wizarding world, being obliviated right away. The wizards who obliviated them would spend a night in jail unless the circumstances were life or death. After centuries of this happening, however, the rules started to bend, and now even the suspicion of muggles coming close to magical interaction would be faced with harsh charges and if necessary, death.

There were cases about magical creatures - a topic Tsukishima has been finding more fascinating these days - and how they were illegal to keep as pets because of the close extinction. Apparently, wizards have been using them over the years for personal gain, potion ingredients, wand cores, the likes. Then muggles started finding them too and all of a sudden there was havoc.  
Muggles are fascinated by everything they don't know. And the more different they were, the harder they attacked and the higher their defences went. A terrible response, really, but the more Tsukishima read about it, the more he realized what Yamaguchi found so special about them.  
Scary creatures that could stomp you with hearts of gold. Is that what Yamaguchi saw that was so precious in these magical creatures? How misunderstood they were?

But Tsukishima's favourite cases, were the simple ones about marriage. Funny, how marriage worked in the wizarding world. So far, it was illegal for a troll and a wizard to be married. Funny, right? Oh, and for giants, marrying outside of the giant race was punishable by death. Hilarious, isn't it? And in Transylvania, muggle and wizard relationships were out of the question. Laughable, no?

The funniest one was though, in pretty much every country in the world right now, no question _Japan_ , gay marriage was a one way ticket to Azkaban and hell. No shrine, church or temple would take you in. Tsukishima's father was pretty much making sure of that.

"Oi," Kageyama scowled, getting Tsukishima's attention right away and pulling him out of his daze and thoughts. "Scrub the floor any harder and you'll break it!"

Right. Detention. As a punishment, headmaster Akaashi sent Kageyama and Tsukishima to the janitor to help them with some mundane chores. The real punishment though, was having to do everything without magic.

So now the two of them were polishing the dungeon bars, floors and chains with a small toothbrush, the two of them going at it for at least 2 hours ever since classes ended.

"Fuck off, Your Highness. Are you already tired of my lowly presence with you?""Just shut the fuck up already."

Tsukishima smirked to himself when Kageyama went silent, grumbling quietly to himself as he scrubbed the chains. However nowadays, Tsukishima couldn't even enjoy tormenting Kageyama anymore with how distracted Tsukishima has been. Everything Kageyama threw at him, Tsukishima would throw back with a spell or charm that could kill Kageyama, and if Hogwarts didn't have a prefect or a teacher around every corner then maybe Kageyama would be having a funeral sooner than expected.

"I just want this to be over," Kageyama whispered quietly, but the echoes of the dungeon allowed Tsukishima to hear that much. And finally, Tsukishima and Kageyama had reached an agreement over something.

No, Tsukishima didn't bring up how he led Kageyama out of Hogwarts to that hellhole school. Kageyama never brought it up either even though his reaction was quite strong.  
Which, by the way, was what Tsukishima wanted.

Saturday school started as a pain in the ass, but only because Tsukishima was the only one who signed up for it in his year so he had to be upped with the 5th years. He didn't mind at first until he realized what the 5th years were _actually_ there for.

"I just need this extra credit, alright? Think I'm actually gonna finish this essay? My ass..."

So Saturday school ended up being a bust and Tsukishima dropped out of the Hogwarts classes by the end of September, though his alternative was being by his dad's office over the weekends and if he had time, after school too. At first, he thought it wouldn't work out well, not wanting to get in his way. His didn't consider his mom's office as an option either for some reason. Maybe because she actually would have tried to get Tsukishima to do work.

"Kei, have you talked to Tadashi-kun these days?" His dad asked, not looking up from his papers and neither did Tsukishima. "How's he doing?"

Tsukishima didn't answer for a few seconds, because in short, he didn't know. He hasn't gotten around to Yamaguchi's calls, not being allowed to call back, and also he wasn't even sure what to talk about.

How was the school? What was he learning? How were the people? Was he eating well? Even if Tsukishima didn't talk, he had a strange but confident feeling Yamaguchi wouldn't have even minded that much.

"He's fine." Tsukishima answered bluntly, even though he actually had no idea. How fine could you be when you were sleeping on a hard floor and ran out of hot water because Terushima was an asshat? "But I don't see him so how much am I supposed to know?""Ah, well, maybe he'll learn a thing or two," Tsukishima's dad chuckled alone, shaking his head as he used his wand to do something to his paper.

"Maybe he'll learn how to be a real man on his own."

At this point, Tsukishima knew just as much about that school as Kageyama, that night being the first he's ever seen it and tried going to that address. It was luck and brain, really, Kageyama could have pulled it off as well if he had the address.  
Well, _maybe_ Kageyama could have if he had at least half of Tsukishima's IQ.

"I'm going to head out for a bit. Your mom said she needs help with some editing," Tsukishima's dad said, leaving his desk and walking out of the office, Tsukishima just nodding and waiting for his dad to leave. Then he waited a few more minutes, hearing the ticking of the clock and waiting exactly 180 seconds before shooting up and rummaging aggressively through his dad's desk.

"Come on, come on, come on," Tsukishima huffed to himself, opening every drawer and turning every paper, trying to find it again. "I know you're here somewhere. Come on, come on-" a blank sheet of paper Tsukishima held up the light, gasping in excitement.

"Gotcha!"

Tucking the paper in his robes, Tsukishima took his wand out and pointed it to his dad's messy desk. " _Reverte_." He said, everything on his dad's desk going back to it's organized place, like it was never touched in the first place, and Tsukishima went back to his corner, holding up his school work and writing notes.

His dad came back exactly 5 minutes later and was never questioned about the paper after that.

The paper was blank to the naked eye, but out of coincidence Tsukishima learned that when you held it to the light, you could see the faint writing of someone's messy notes carved into it, most likely a paper that was behind another sheet of paper with the actual notes written on it. So this paper, he wasn't even sure if his dad was aware of it, Tsukishima just found it on his own.

Yet it was so important to him, when he got back to school he was clutching to it with his life.

That piece of paper, though it didn't have ink or actual writing, Tsukishima made-do with determination, holding it against the brightness of the sun and barely making out the different letters and characters.

The first thing he noticed when he found the paper for the first time, was the address. 'Tokyo' was at the end at that was all he needed just to want to see the rest of the writing because there was a chance that was the place Yamaguchi was staying, even if it wasn't the right address.

Yes, Tsukishima admitted long ago, he missed Yamaguchi right since the moment he left.

"That's it? For fucks sake," Tsukishima growled when he couldn't read anything more but the address, putting the paper down and sighing. Nothing was going his way, and he couldn't really blame anyone but himself. Perhaps this was a punishment for how he's been acting out these past few years, how he's been treating Yamaguchi these past few years.

Now Yamaguchi wasn't here, and Tsukishima felt like he was suffering a ton.

"What's that, hm? Something dirty?" A teasing voice sang into Tsukishima's ear, making him flinch, and it didn't help that when Tsukishima turned around it was Oikawa.

The 6th year seemed quite bored nowadays too, now with his victim boyfriend away and lots of free time, Tsukishima was one of the occasional targets of Oikawa's weird tormenting, being asked questions over and over again despite not answering clearly.  
Though Tsukishima learned, as long as you weren't Iwaizumi then Oikawa would get bored right away anyway.

"No." His answer was curt and short, making Oikawa kiss his teeth, not impressed with the answer but didn't push harder, flopping down on the couch of the common room and groaning loudly.

"God. Is _anyone_ in Slytherin worth talking to?" Oikawa sighed dramatically, draping his arm over his eyes. "Goodness. I feel like I'm dying.""Then die," Kunimi hummed nonchalantly, casually passing by the common room and towards the stairs. "I certainly would like to see who'd show up to your funeral." Oikawa scowled but didn't throw anything at Kunimi to his surprise, simply letting him go.

Tsukishima didn't think anything changed in the Slytherin house, not many of them left in the first place. However, with the way Oikawa treated this separation, it was like half of the fucking castle was missing.

"Even Kuroo and Bokuto are gone," he heard Oikawa mumble, which was already very shocking in Tsukishima's opinion, but he pretended not to hear. "Really. I've nothing to do..."

Oikawa was a proud Slytherin though, Tsukishima knew that much. He didn't think anyone from any house would want to switch, and pretty much everyone liked the people in their house - even Sugawara! So to have someone as prideful as Oikawa saying something like this, Tsukishima's mind was wandering off to odd territory. Like, maybe if he was in Gryffindor with Kageyama, would they have been friends?

Probably not, but that's why he considered this 'odd territory' for his mind to wander.

" _Not only are you a shitty person, but you're a shitty friend too._ "

Why Tsukishima was thinking about this now in the middle of the night, he wasn't quite sure, but he was. Even Kageyama's voice was there, flooding his ears and making him hiss in disgust. Tsukishima had to sit up, taking his glasses from the bedside table and putting them on before turning his lamp on. Really, _nothing_ was going his way nowadays and he was pretty sure at this point it was a punishment.

Yawning, Tsukishima stretched and started trudging tiredly out of bed while taking his wand, the streams of moonlight beaming into his room and making lines on the floor that Tsukishima played a game with by stepping on each one. 

He made his way to the common room, going over to one of the cupboards and taking a glass out before pointing his wand into the glass. " _Aguamenti_." He said quietly, letting his wand pour the glass filled with clean water, chugging it right after.   
Stupid Kageyama. And his stupid truth words keeping him up at night.

"Yes, I know. I know, I know. Yes. Yes, I know. Yes."

The voice coming out from nowhere at first until Tsukishima awakened more, squinting his eyes around. No lights were on, nothing was moving. He waited for the voice to come back before he could start walking towards it.

"Yes. Yes, I know. I know. I know. I said I know."

Tsukishima started to tiptoe towards the now familiar voice, creeping to one of the walls and pressing his back against it, the corner just beside his shoulder so he was able to hear better. If he turned his head and looked at the corner of his eye, he could see a figure crouching on the ground, hunched over and holding both hands to one ear, covering their mouth with his arm.

"I know. I know. Okay. Okay, bye." Was the last thing they said before a 'beep' sound came out and dropped their hands, sighing and hanging their head down. Tsukishima waited a good five minutes before the person finally stood up and started walking back to the staircase, but of course, Tsukishima decided to have a little time with Mr. I-Know-I-Know.

"Shirabu."  
"Holy shit!" Shirabu gasped, jumping back at Tsukishima's sudden appearance in front of him, holding his chest and taking deep breaths. "Fucking, watch where you're going," Shirabu growled at him, not even fazed that someone caught him doing...  
Well, caught him doing something. That was what mattered, and Tsukishima was going to be the one to dig deeper into the situation.

"Who were you talking to?" Tsukishima asked bluntly, looking down into Shirabu's hands that were now in his pocket, raising an eyebrow at him. "Unless you're a maniac who talks to himself."

Shirabu gave a cold smile, pushing Tsukishima off with a shake of the head. "You caught me. I'm fucking psychotic." Shirabu tried to walk past Tsukishima, but Tsukishima just stopped him, stepping in the direction he did and blocking Shirabu off. Obviously something was happening, and Tsukishima was intrigued - slightly frustrated, but intrigued.

"I caught you," Tsukishima smirked down at him, "so be good and answer my questions, alright? Or," Tsukishima used his wand, levitating whatever was in Shirabu's pocket up and out, catching it when it was mid air before Shirabu could snatch it back.

"I'll be the one to play the psychotic card. Alright?"

Scowling, Shirabu wiped his bangs to the side, trying at least once to grab the thing in Tsukishima's hand once more but was unsuccessful with the few inches Tsukishima had on him.

What Tsukishima had in his hand was...  
Something. Definitely something. He just didn't know what it was because it was completely foreign and he couldn't identify it just by touch. And if Shirabu was hiding it from him that had to mean it was something that could get him in trouble as well.

"Hey," Shirabu stepped up to Tsukishima, raising an eyebrow back at him and crossing his arms. "Don't patronize me. You're not that great either, so don't act all high and mighty when you have nothing to fall back on."

" _Not only are you a shitty person, but you're a shitty friend too._ "

Why were these words repeating back to Tsukishima now? Down to his dumb blank expression to his deep and serious voice, the words were breaking down a wall into Tsukishima's brain that hasn't even been tapped until now.

" _Because Tsuki didn't take it_."

"You talk big for someone who can't even do things on their own," Tsukishima retorted back, looking down at Shirabu, wanting to see him break down before he did. "You follow seniors around, trying to get some sort of treat like a dog. Maybe work on your own pride first before you go picking on someone else's."

Shirabu didn't look hurt. He didn't even look offended. With Kageyama, there would be a reaction right away and that was what Tsukishima liked, it was what fuelled him. This though, he hated it when they could fight back.  
That was one of the very few things he hated about being in Slytherin.

"At least the people I follow around actually acknowledge me."

Tsukishima gulped, stunned to silence, not because of how bold Shirabu's comment was, but the fact that even he knew. Did everyone know? Was Tsukishima more obvious than he intended to be? He always thought he was a silent soul, just ghosting around people and letting everyone else take their course, not wanting to interfere with things that didn't involve him. He thought he wasn't a presence to many things in life.

"Ah, I'm tired," Shirabu fake yawned before taking his own wand out of his pocket and pointing it to Tsukishima's hand, swiftly retrieving the device from Tsukishima and grinning cheekily at him.

"It's called a cellphone, by the way," Shirabu hummed, passing by Tsukishima, practically strutting his way down the hall. "Maybe if we become friends one day, I'll let you use it."

It didn't take long before Kageyama and Tsukishima were back in detention together, this time scrubbing the cauldron of the potions class with a sponge. All two thousand and something of them by hand.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if you'd just let do my charm-"  
"Oh, don't give me that dragon ballsack bullshit," Kageyama scowled from the other side of the room, professor Takeda making sure they sat on opposite sides of the room, but Tsukishima and Kageyama could argue perfectly fine from there still.

"'My fault, my fault'. Don't you ever take responsibility for things in life?" 

Tsukishima opened his mouth, about to list everything he's ever taken responsibility for. He was about to claim that he was constantly carrying responsibilities on his back that sometimes he felt that it was okay to shift the responsibility to someone else, especially when it was _their_ fault in the first place. Tsukishima was going to rant on and on about how Kageyama was the one who should be learning about responsibilities.

However, Tsukishima found himself closing his mouth.

"Maybe if you quit talking about Hinata like you know him, I wouldn't have given you a pig tail and ears!" Tsukishima scowled when Kageyama reminded him of their fight, threatening to throw his sponge at Kageyama, but Kageyama went full out with the cauldron and holding it up, aiming it at Tsukishima. "Go! Fucking throw it at me, you shithead! See what I'll do!"

Kageyama was intense. He always gave Tsukishima the reactions he wanted to see, always gave him a fight. And in a weird, unadmitted, never spoken about way, Tsukishima admired him for it. How even though Kageyama might lose, he always fought and persevered.  
Sometimes Tsukishima wondered why Kageyama wasn't sorted to Slytherin.

"For fucks sake," Kageyama huffed, putting the cauldron down and continuing to scrub aggressively. "I don't want to be associated with you either, I hope you know that!"

Tsukishima never asked why, but he did know Kageyama didn't talk to anyone. He noticed Kageyama was awkward, socially challenged, and has tried multiple times to sit with people during a meal but never could. Tsukishima, though he's told people many times he didn't want to sit with them, at least had a group around him. But Kageyama only ever had Hinata so far, and his journey into branching out to a new friend group has been unsuccessful.

Not that Tsukishima cared or was concerned. He just noticed.

"You haven't asked about that night," Tsukishima mused quietly, Kageyama stopping his scrubbing and looking up at Tsukishima with wide eyes. Kageyama visibly gulped, making Tsukishima raise his eyebrows in surprise.

It was like Kageyama has been holding back this whole time.

"I didn't want to bring it up," Kageyama said quietly, looking back down into his cauldron and scrubbing hard. "Because you never did. And it was you who brought us, so...if you ever wanted to go again, it would be your decision. Not mine."

This time, Tsukishima gulped. He didn't realize Kageyama was thinking about that, but then again he didn't care until now. If Kageyama had thoughts like that racing through his mind when he approached Tsukishima, he couldn't even imagine what kind of thoughts and concerns went on when Kageyama tried talking to people who he actually gave a shit about.

"We're not going back," Tsukishima said softly, not looking up either. It was weird to have a civil conversation with Kageyama. "Like I said, it's a one time trip. We're not going back."  
"But we have to!" Kageyama slammed the cauldron down, making Tsukishima slightly flinch, but he still wouldn't look at Kageyama. "Hinata's there! Yamaguchi's there! Everyone's there right now, and we don't even have to go inside to know that what they're going through is a shit show. I mean, doesn't your dad work with these kinds of things? Can't he be doing something about this?"

Tsukishima's jaw clenched, unsure about how much he was allowed to say about his dad's work - or rather, how much he _wanted_ to say. Kageyama wasn't his friend or anything, and frankly, he didn't want to be.

But they have been spending quite a bit of quality time these days though, haven't they?

"My dad doesn't work in that department. He's in the Law Establishment and working on magical creatures-""Law! What they're doing to them _has_ to be breaking the law, right?"

Without making a sound, Kageyama was already in front of Tsukishima, his face dangerously close, making Tsukishima jump back and grimace. "So tell your dad! Tell your dad or-or, let's tell the headmaster! We have to do something, don't we? Those are our friends!"

Tsukishima froze, not expecting such a passion to rush through Kageyama about something like this. From the outside, lots of people thought Kageyama and him were the same and that was why they fought frequently. The resting bitch face, the quiet demeanour, the intense look in their eyes that shunned off the world and that cocky expression they would make when someone crossed them.

When in reality, Kageyama was like this. Should people be more disappointed? Because Tsukishima wasn't.

"Your friends," Tsukishima whispered, looking dead into Kageyama's eyes. "Not mine."

Kageyama didn't leave Tsukishima alone after that. It was annoying, his persistence, it almost reminded Tsukishima of Kuroo when Kuroo followed him around and asked questions about his life and Yamaguchi.

"Hey shithead! Wait up for me!" Kageyama screamed, chasing after Tsukishima in the hallway and catching up to him. Tsukishima didn't stop walking, but he did slow down his steps.

The only difference between Kuroo and Kageyama, you see, was that Kageyama looked like he was bullying Tsukishima.

"You really need to wait for me. You say things about how I don't have textbooks, but do you even take things out of your bag?" Kageyama asked in disbelief, nudging Tsukishima to the side so he hit the wall, but Tsukishima didn't push back, instead just continuing to walk. "How do you leave class so quickly anyway? It's like, the bell rings and then you shoot up and leave. Do you have super powers or something?"

How did people think Kageyama was antisocial. All he did was talk, all fucking day he would complain or scream or rant, Tsukishima began to wonder if Kageyama actually breathed.   
This was who everyone was so scared of approaching? Because all Tsukishima was seeing was an awkward puffball of awkwardness who didn't know when to _stop_ talking.

"Are we going to my room or yours?"  
"Now why would we go to each other's rooms when we could go to our own?" Tsukishima asked, gritting his teeth, already heading for the Gryffindor tower. Slytherins were mean and he didn't want Kageyama fighting with them.

"What do you mean? You said you'd help with my History homework, asshat!" Kageyama yelled, rather loudly into Tsukishima's ear. Tsukishima didn't know what you could call their relationship so far, all he knew was that it was tiring him these days and it was making him realize how someone like Kageyama and someone Hinata got along.  
Kageyama wasn't like Tsukishima at _all_.

"Why're you walking faster? Hey, talk to me! Talk to me, Tsukishima, you fucking bastard, four-eyes looking ass bitch." Kageyama growled, spitting out insults until they were at the Gryffindor tower, finally. Without saying a word, Tsukishima went over to the Gryffindor table in their common room, taking out his notebooks and textbooks, waiting for Kageyama to sit with him.

"I expect Galleons by the end of this," Tsukishima huffed, making Kageyama scowl at him and give Tsukishima the finger.

Tsukishima didn't know what you could call their relationship so far, but he'd be fooled if someone didn't call this 'friendship'. An odd, violent, mutual, maybe a little bit concerning friendship that was keeping Tsukishima on his toes just like how he needed.

"You're really a dumbass if you think vampires are cooler than werewolves."

Homework turned into arguing and arguing turned into fighting and fighting turned into not doing homework altogether. Kageyama and Tsukishima have been at it, talking until 12 midnight, and now, they were munching on chocolate frogs, discussing the cards they had gotten from their box (Kageyama got headmaster Akaashi, which Tsukishima responded with 'I have, like, 8 of him'). How did the topic get to vampires and werewolves? Good question, Tsukishima wasn't sure either.

"Vampires only suck blood and turn other people into vampires. Nothing special," Tsukishima explained, making Kageyama grit his teeth and bang his fist on the table.  
"Oh? So what makes werewolves so cool then?" Tsukishima hummed in thought, then grinned sadistically at Kageyama. 

"Because Kageyama-kun doesn't like them?"

Kageyama threw a chocolate frog leg at Tsukishima, which Tsukishima caught with his mouth, laughing obnoxiously as Kageyama ranted about how vampires were objectively way more cool than werewolves, something about their powers and their ability to blend in with crowds or whatever, but Tsukishima wasn't really listening at one point.

This might have been the first time in a long time Tsukishima actually enjoyed a conversation that wasn't with Yamaguchi. Maybe the first time _ever_.

"Hey, Kageyama," Tsukishima called out, Kageyama humming in response. The homework sheets were long gone, Kageyama and him now folding paper cranes and bringing them to life by charming them and letting them fly around the room.   
Their goal was to fold a thousand by 3 AM.

"Do you like magical creatures?" The question clearly made Kageyama surprised, but nothing unordinary. Assuming it was just out of curiosity, Kageyama nodded his head.   
"I don't hate them. I mean, it sucks that they're dying and stuff. But until now, I haven't really thought about it," Kageyama answered truthfully. "If I were to be honest though, animals don't like me in general. So I tend to avoid them altogether."

Tsukishima couldn't help but snicker, charming his crane and letting it fly around the Gryffindor common room, watching as it fluttered to the top of the ceiling, bumping into another crane, but continued to fly on it's own. Bright yellow, contrasting in the dark candle lit room, Tsukishima thought that it was a lovely mix, but couldn't help but also think that the yellow crane didn't belong there. He belonged in the bright sea sky, where he could spread his wings and fly beyond boarders without any limitations.

"What about you?" Kageyama asked, also charming his crane and letting it fly up, throwing it aggressively because he was convinced that would make it fly faster. "You like'em? Magical creatures and stuff."

Tsukishima was quiet for a moment, then hummed and nodded his head. "I do. I guess it's like you though, they don't seem to like me. I'm not exactly a gentle person. I scare them away before I can do things like pet or feed them. And I tense up and stuff, so it's not good for anyone if I think about it," Tsukishima found himself rambling, stopping himself quickly. Oddly enough, Kageyama was easy to talk to for Tsukishima. Because Kageyama didn't mind being quiet either, it gave Tsukishima time to think about his words before he said them out loud.

"Eh? You're gentle though."

The comment caught Tsukishima off guard, whipping his head to look at Kageyama. He was searching for a hint of sarcasm, a snicker or a laugh indicating he was joking, but nothing.  
Kageyama was being serious.

"What?" Kageyama's expression was gruff, but Tsukishima wasn't intimidated by it at all. "You're not scary, is what I'm saying! You walk around like you're a big shot, but in reality you-you help with homework and wanna fold paper birds. You're a piece of shit, okay? There, that's better!"

With the way Kageyama's ears turned red, and how he huffed, looking down at the paper he was folding and cursing when he did the fold wrong, Tsukishima nodded his head slowly and continued folding his own paper crane.

"Yamaguchi likes magical creatures," Tsukishima said in a very quiet voice, but he knew Kageyama heard. And in that moment, he also knew Kageyama understood, because Kageyama didn't say anything else that night.

"That scary duo? No way, you ask them!"  
"But I can't! I might die just stepping too close. You do it! You have a better chance!"

Kageyama's and Tsukishima's interactions didn't go unnoticed, and Tsukishima found out quite quickly that Kageyama as well was popular amongst girls. He just wasn't that good at rejecting them.

"Ka-Kageyama-san!" Gryffindor, 4th year, makeup a little too light for her face and hair still in that weird phase where you don't know what you want it to do. Tsukishima stopped in the hallway with Kageyama, waiting for her to get on with her confession.

"Will-Will you come with me to the Halloween Party this year?"

Kageyama's face looked disgusted, and by now Tsukishima knew he didn't actually mean he was disgusted, he was just confused and didn't know how to react. "Eh? We need dates to this thing?" Kageyama looked over at Tsukishima who simply just shrugged unknowingly. "Dunno."

Kageyama looked back at the girl, looking down at her then cocked his head. "Why do you need me to go with you?"

There were gasps from her friends, then the poor girl's lips started trembling, shaking her head before letting out a sob and running in the other direction. Tsukishima was able to see Kageyama's face go from shocked to confused to shocked again and then finally, angry. The process was always amusing, every single time, especially since Kageyama never learned.

"What is she crying for?" Kageyama sighed in frustration, shaking his own head then continuing to walk down the hall like nothing happened. 

"So mean," Tsukishima snickered in amusement. "You never fail to make them cry.""I don't mean to! They cry on their own!" Kageyama snarled, pushing Tsukishima into the wall, but Tsukishima didn't push him back of course. He never pushed Kageyama back.

"Anyway," Kageyama sighed, looking out one of the windows, "have you talked to your dad yet? Halloween is getting closer. That might be the best time to do something about the-""I haven't even met the Minister yet, you know?" Tsukishima cut Kageyama off before he could get too excited about the topic of 'taking down the Ministry of Magic'. Which was just absurd, even thinking about it, Tsukishima couldn't help but shudder.

How were a bunch of kids suppose to take down a whole organization on their own? It seemed impossible.

"Well, Mr. Minister of Magic is obviously the one behind this," Kageyama stated confidently, leaning against the wall and looking at Tsukishima through his bangs. "So chop, chop, Mr. Law Student, we have a lot of work to do."

Tsukishima's amused look was starting to soften with Kageyama, though the two boys didn't happen to notice, and now whenever Kageyama became interesting, Tsukishima's eyes went bright and his spine shivered from top to tail, like he was about to go for a thrilled ride. When this started to happen, Tsukishima wasn't sure. All he knew was now, Kageyama was giving him a lot to think about and a lot to do.

"How do you even know Minister Faiji is the one behind all of this?" Tsukishima didn't deny that Minister Faiji was, nor did he confirm. Honestly, Tsukishima wasn't too sure either. "It could be headmaster Akaashi, or someone else on the board. It could even be _my_ dad. What makes you so sure it's Minister Faiji?"

Kageyama didn't respond, kicking the ground and clenching his jaw, playing with something in his pocket that Tsukishima was pretty sure was just his own hand. He waited for a response, wanting to know what was going on in Kageyama's mind.

"Hinata likes to win," Kageyama mumbled softly, his eyes glued to the ground. "He never lets anyone stop him, not even me. So to go a month in a place like that...it has to be someone really powerful that's stopping him from doing something, even just writing a letter or saying something over the phone."

To know so much about the person you like. Was that normal? Of course it was, Tsukishima quickly took the brief thought back, shaking his head in the slightest. He knew Yamaguchi wouldn't do something easily in this situation, not by himself anyway.

"If I were to be honest though, I think he would push his sister out first if anything. And if he's saving his sister," Kageyama finally looked up, his eyes dilated and his mouth curved in an odd shape, not a smirk, but not a smile either.

"Then shouldn't someone be saving Hinata?"

If someone should be saving Hinata, then shouldn't there be someone saving Yamaguchi too?

_Dear Yamaguchi..._

Tsukishima erased the words right away, scribbling on top of them and letting out a frustrated groan, shaking his head. Not even 30 seconds in and he already wanted to back out.

"You can do this," Tsukishima sighed softly to himself, leaning back on his desk and trying again, touching the tip of his quill to the parchment. A phone call was out of the question, not wanting to wait till the end of the week, and he didn't want to be too suspicious with suddenly wanting to talk on the phone with Yamaguchi (even though literally no one would have cared).

_Yamaguchi. This is Tsukishima._

Yes. Perfect. Straightforward and precise, Tsukishima continued on with the letter.

_I know I haven't been contacting a lot, but you know I'm a busy person. It really isn't my fault-_

" _Not only are you a shitty person, but you're a shitty friend too._ "

"Ugh, Kageyama!" Tsukishima scolded, even though Kageyama wasn't even there in the first place. He messed up on his words, now needing to start from the top even though he thought he was doing a perfectly fine job.

_Yamaguchi,_

_It's Tsukishima. I know I haven't been contacting a_ _lot.._.

Tsukishima bit his lip, looking down at the words and deciding to go on a bit of a different route. Kageyama and Hinata were happy together, weren't they? Maybe he should try it Kageyama's way?  
Tsukishima shuddered at the thought of doing something 'Kageyama's way' willingly.

_I know I haven't been contacting a lot, and I'm sorry about that. I got busy and I should have told you, shouldn't've I? I promise I'll make it up to you._

Yeah, that was some stupid lovey-dovey crap Kageyama would pull. The reason why Tsukishima ever called Kageyama 'Your Highness' in the first place was because of him being a romantic cliché, whether or not Kageyama knew it or not. He wasn't good at talking to people, hella awkward and quite visually intimidating (cool even? To girls, not to Tsukishima!). But Kageyama got popular in some way, right?

_How is it over there? I hope you're eating properly and doing your lessons well. Your grades are important, don't forget that._

Tsukishima bit his thumb, trying to think about what else to write about. Was else do people write in letters? Questions? How they were? But Tsukishima's life wasn't that eventful, and what he could write he was too worried someone else would read it.

_Be friends with Hinata. I think he'll suit you as a person._

Tsukishima sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair and fisting it, tugging on his skull. This shouldn't be as hard as he was making it, yet here he was, fussing over a letter.

" _Not only are you a shitty person, but you're a shitty friend too._ "

_I miss you a lot. Please don't think otherwise._

_Yours,  
Tsukishima Kei_

It wasn't long, but Tsukishima was a man of few words, which Yamaguchi knew from the start. And hopefully he would continue understanding, but Tsukishima was learning more and more just how much he needed Yamaguchi in his life, just how much he thought about him without even trying to, and how much more effort he needed to make for him.

Reaching into his pocket, Tsukishima took out the teared up still photo of Yamaguchi, his bright eyes and smile the same as Tsukishima remembered. Loving eyes and an affectionate smile that etched in Tsukishima's mind.

" _Not only are you a shitty person, but you're a shitty friend too._ "

"Oh, fuck you, Your Highness," Tsukishima chuckled coldly, putting the photo back into his pocket and folding the letter, putting it in an envelope before heading up to the Owlery where he would borrow one of the school owls to send his letter to Yamaguchi.

"Don't mess this up, Bucko," Tsukishima petted the Owl, feeding it some grains before setting it free to send his letter. He said a little prayer, sighing softly and closing his eyes. Homophobic dad, shitty personality, unrealistic desires in life, Tsukishima knew that all. He let it rot in him, somewhere he didn't want to open, and to be honest, he was fine with that. It didn't hurt anyone.

Until he realized that there were more things to life than himself. There were more things that could drive him, more feelings that he needed to look after, more moments in life he had to look forward to. Tsukishima wasn't living to get by - he was just _living._ And he needed to start acting like it.

But if there was on thing that god or the universe could give him, the one thing he didn't want to let get ruined, was his relationship with Yamaguchi. 

So his prayers turned to begging, and Tsukishima found himself sitting in the Owlery all night long, waiting for an owl to come back with a reply.


	28. Kenma

Date : October 10 1997

Time : 1:37 AM

Current Location : Wrapped up in blankets on the bed

Mission : The stupid Gameboy screen went black. Kuroo gives dumb gifts. We should tell him that.

"Huh?" Kenma had been playing the fighting game on his Gameboy for the past 6 hours, not having defeated the last level yet and determined to at least get to the final boss before he fell asleep. But for some reason, his Gameboy wasn't turning on now, no matter how many times he hit it aggressively against the palm of his hand and demanded it to work.

"Piece of shit," Kenma knocked it on his bed frame, glaring at the stupid blue box that was now useless. "Work already. You serve no other purpose than my entertainment."

Honestly, Kenma hasn't had a good night's sleep in weeks, well over a month now, and there was only one stupid reason why. His cat isn't there to keep him company anymore, studying was starting to be a hassle, and Akaashi sleeps before midnight like a 'healthy person' or something.  
The only thing that managed to keep Kenma barely on the fence, was this Gameboy. But now it didn't even work!

"Kenma...?" Akaashi groaned softly in the bed beside him, squinting as he saw Kenma glaring at the blue box-contraption-thingy, banging it on his pillow over and over again. "You okay?"

Kenma didn't respond, hitting the thing harder until he was sure it was going to break. It was already broken, actually! Not turning on, not lighting up or making that weird 'ding' noise before the screen appeared. Kenma didn't know what was wrong with it and he didn't have any muggle born students to tell him, not Kuroo, not Shouyou, no one!

"Go to sleep," Akaashi groaned, turning over in his bed so his back was facing Kenma. "We have Noya's birthday thing...later," Akaashi yawned, shifting in bed before Kenma could hear his breathing evening out. Akaashi didn't know how lucky he was, to sleep so easily when he was tired.

Even though his eyes were heavy, threatening to fall every few seconds. Even though his heartbeat was slowing down and his whole body was shutting off. Even though his mind was blank, nothing racing through and nothing to ponder or worry over.  
Even though he wanted to fall asleep, Kenma just couldn't.

"Draught Spell?" Kenma wondered out loud, taking his wand out, but then shaking his head and tsking to himself. He couldn't use magic to fall asleep, that was unhealthy.

God, he sounded like such a Kuroo now.

"Akaashi," Kenma whispered, stepping out of bed and tiptoeing over to Akaashi's, leaning down so Akaashi could hear him properly. "I'm gonna go to the common room, alright?""Hng..." Was Akaashi's reply, which Kenma took as an okay.

Kenma had to light a few candles in the common room so it wasn't completely dark, then sat down at one of the tables, taking out a random book and hoping that would help him fall asleep with it's boringness. 

Unsuccessfully, Kenma started reading the contents of the book more and more, each word encapsulating him, making him even more awake. His eyes went wide as he flipped through the sections, the headings of paragraphs and the subheadings all alike gravitating him in as he leaned closer to the desk. At this point, Kenma's eyes were growing heavy again, but this time he forced them to stay open.

**_Muggles In Training_ **

_As of 1803, muggles have been trained to hunt, kill and capture magical beings and creatures. As of 1800, over thousands of unicorns, centaurs and witches (specifically in the South Eastern Europe) have been held captive and ransomed for rewards that range from ¥50, 000 - ¥200, 000. All hunting is done with the objective goal in achieving knowledge of the unknown, including magical properties, impossible tasks made possible, and eternal youth._

_Muggles begin their hunting training process at the age of 18, recruited by someone of a hunting group either before or when the trainer is of age. It is a difficult process to pass, having to understand the ways of the wizarding world and to be aware of how much magical presence is around them. In 1797, famous hunter 'Karyuu Dou' was successful in capturing 5 unicorns in one week, using their blood to revive his whole family that died in 1783. 18001, Karyuu Dou was caught by the Ministry of Magic, giving him the death sentence shortly after his trial._

_However, Karyuu Dou swift in thinking, having already started to build a small army of his own that hunt and kill wizards, witches and magical creatures alike for the sheer purposes that range from entertainment to profit. Karyuu Dou started his cult solely based on blood lust, although now we see there are different gains to be sought after as his clan grows._

_According to the Ministry of Magic ; Muggles Department, hunting in the muggle world has greatly increased. It is seen throughout the years that the lines of population only lower (observe chart B4.2) and thin. Muggle enchantment charms have been defected twice in history (1001, 1604;refer to chapter 5, pg. 502) and continue to be broken through the more muggles are shown the true forms of magic. It is important as wizards and witches, that we unite in-_

"That's my textbook," a low voice startled Kenma, making him flinch and whip his head around to see who it was. "You touched my textbook. Make sure you disinfect it before you give it back to me."

Sighing in relief, also letting go of a breath Kenma didn't even realize he was holding in, Kenma went back to his stoic expression, nodding his head shortly. "Of course, Sakusa." Kenma didn't mean to touch someone else's things, it just sort of happened when he wanted to fall asleep. All that happened was Kenma became more awake than ever.

"Why do you have this textbook?" Kenma asked, already taking his wand out and giving the textbook a good sanitizing charm, going to the front, the back and the spine of the book before turning to each individual page he touched, making sure Sakusa was watching him. "Muggle Studies was taken out of the curriculum this year."

Sakusa Kiyoomi - a 5th year Ravenclaw who was even more socially challenged than Kenma, believe it or not - had his eyes intensely on his textbook, needing to make sure every surface Kenma put his fingers on was wiped away. The question got Sakusa's attention though, looking up at Kenma and humming a bit.

"Actually, this textbook wasn't mine to start with," Sakusa admitted quietly. Kenma didn't ask why Sakusa was here at 2 AM in the morning, because Sakusa didn't ask. And Kenma was good at minding his own business. "Wakatoshi-kun gave it to me. It was his from last year."

Kenma's eyes widened slightly, but he played it off while he wiped down Sakusa's textbook pages. He didn't know Sakusa and Ushijma were on good terms with each other. In fact, he never seen them interact before. It was surprising, but Kenma found himself not caring when he really thought about what those interactions would be like.  
Silence on silence, not a word spoken between them and nothing but an awkward but tense energy bouncing off of each other.

"You read it?" Kenma asked softly, rubbing his eyes and just then realizing how strained they were. He couldn't see it, but the corners of the whites of his eyes were veined red, his pupils contracted down. He yawned without meaning to, now having to use just one hand to clean Sakusa's textbook which was even harder. Kenma was now regretting reading so much of it.

"No," Sakusa answered gruffly, finally just going up to Kenma and taking his textbook back, inspecting each inch of it then nodding approvingly. "You made me forget what I came down for. Now I have to go back to bed."

Kenma watched as Sakusa turned around, heading for the stairs, but in the last moment Kenma called out to him. "Sakusa." Sakusa turned around, waiting for Kenma to finish, but it ended up the two of them just staring at each other in the dimly lighted common room, no one initiating conversation and it seemed like no one wanted to.  
Kenma didn't want to. But he was just so curious.

"If you you're not reading that textbook, can I borro-""No," Sakusa didn't even let him finish that request, turning around already and taking slow steps up, textbook clutched tightly into his chest.

"Wakatoshi-kun gave it to me. I'm just letting you go this time because I'm too tired to do something about it."

Things like this were the reasons why Kenma hated socializing.

"Happy birthday, Noya." Akaashi said as they walked into Potions class, Kenma behind him and bowing. "Happy birthday, Nishinoya."

Nishinoya, bright eyed and excitedly buzzing, screamed in happiness, pumping his fists up and cheering as Akaashi and Kenma greeted him. A lot of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor classes took place together, so they were definitely spending a lot of time together. Kenma didn't mind though, having a Gryffindor in his circle of friends. He was dating one anyway, what more to have them be apart of his social group.

"Do we have anything planned for tonight?" Nishinoya asked with an eager tone, not caring about what the professor was writing on the chalk board. "I wanna eat a big cake! You think you can poof one up for me, Keiji-kun? You think, you think?" Akaashi chuckled, shrugging innocently. "You'll see tonight, Noya. Kenma and I planned something, don't worry."

Kenma didn't know if it was because Nishinoya reminded Akaashi of Bokuto or what, but he definitely was fond of Nishinoya a lot. But at the same time, Nishinoya was nothing like Bokuto. He had no concerns (honestly, none at all and that concerned Kenma) and was a fearless bundle of joy that jumped on his broom and did flips on the roof.

No, Nishinoya didn't remind Kenma of Bokuto, but maybe he reminded Akaashi of Bokuto. But there was definitely someone who Nishinoya did remind him of.

"Kenma-kun, can you help with this-""Just Kenma," Kenma cut him off first, already standing up and walking to Nishinoya's desk, looking down in Nishinoya's cauldron to see what he needed help with. "'Kenma' is fine with me."

Shouyou was a light Kenma never found anywhere else, and now Nishinoya was filling in for him as he waited for him to come back. That same bright expression, the smile that made Kenma squint, and his excited attitude no matter what. Plus, Nishinoya blindly followed Kenma 90% of the time, and that other 10% was when Kenma actually told him where they were going. Nishinoya reminded Kenma of Shoyou, and that was enough to give Kenma life in his dead, quiet Ravenclaw heart.

"Moonstone till it turns green," Kenma pointed out Nishinoya's mistake, chopping the ingredients for him and putting them in his potion mix, stirring it slowly until it bubbled and let out a poof of gas. "But now it's blue.""Yes, that's supposed to happen." Kenma confirmed, adding the next ingredient into the potion and watching it simmer on it's own.   
"There's a lot of steps, so just watch me do it first, okay?"

Nishinoya nodded, sitting down and watching Kenma intensely as he made the Draught of Peace potion, ironically a complicated potion to make that a lot of wizards give up out of frustration and become even more stressed or tense. Kenma, however, was skilled when it came to potions, easily completing them on the first try. He's never actually had to use on on himself, but he's give Kuroo several, and Akaashi a few as well, each one not harming them at all. One of his biggest fears was that people would find out and start talking to him and ask for a potion themselves.

"Now," Kenma added porcupine quills like how the instructions said, letting the final product turn white. "There. It's finished."

Nishinoya started clapping, leaning in to smell the potion, humming in excitement when it did have a lavender scent to it like how it's suppose to. "You're really good at this, Kenma! I really have to catch up to you."

Ah. Just like Shouyou. So excited and ready, admiring people better than him and then trying to get to their level. It was quite entertaining.

"Let's get professor Takeda to approve it. Maybe we can even ask if we can take some of the potion for ourselves."

Kenma didn't know much about Oikawa, besides what he witnessed at Oikawa's birthday party (which he was dragged to, by the way) and of what people said about him.   
But Nishinoya didn't like him, so it gave Kenma a reason to avoid him constantly. It was fine though, it's not like Kenma and Oikawa were best friends or anything, nor did Kenma want to be.

"What do you think they're making Noya do?" Akaashi asked, the two of them eating lunch, mostly just picking at their food as they waited for their lunch period to be over. "Detention on his birthday. He must be whining a lot."

After getting into another fight with Oikawa in the hallway, Nishinoya ended up in detention for the whole week, no questions asked, even though all Nishinoya was doing was defending his friend from an ignorant Slytherin. And to be honest, Oikawa deserved to get tormented by Nishinoya for the way he made things feel like it was Akaashi's fault.

At the same time, Kenma couldn't blame Oikawa that much either. Because he understood the want to outlet anger on something (or someone) that didn't deserve it.

"Probably cleaning toilets or something," Kenma shrugged, not really picturing Nishinoya doing a task like that, but he supposed the real problem was being stuck with Oikawa for more than a few seconds and trying not to get in trouble again. Which, to Kenma's knowledge, was a near impossible task for Nishinoya and he would rather get eaten up by a dementor before that happened.

"Sucks," Akaashi added on, twirling the spaghetti on his plate with a fork, pursing his lips a bit as he watched the noodle slip down between the prongs. "He probably wanted to spend the day celebrating."

Kenma knew that all of them were bummed nowadays. Correction, _everyone_ knew, and everyone was feeling, more or less, the same way. Which was why when celebrations like this were coming up, Kenma understood why making a big deal out of them was important. Like Tsukishima's, that happened just last week even though Tsukishima clearly didn't want to spend time with anyone. And Kenma's birthday was coming up in a few days as well (Nishinoya wasn't good at keeping secrets, so Kenma knew he had something planned).

"Oi, Akaashi," Kenma whispered quietly, leaning his head closer to Akaashi's and looking behind Akaashi's shoulder, his eyes having a certain focal point he was trying not to make obvious. 

"Call Kageyama over."

Akaashi was slow to turn his head, looking behind him that at the Gryffindor table, Kageyama was awkwardly sitting on his own, tensed up with a tight face. There was a loud group of Gryffindors beside him, laughing and talking very loudly, and Kageyama couldn't make it painfully more obvious that he wanted to join in. It physically hurt Kenma in a weird way.

"You call him over," Akaashi huffed, looking back down at his plate of spaghetti and stabbing at it. "He's your friend."

Kenma wouldn't necessarily call Kageyama his friend, per se, but he didn't hate Kageyama either. He knew almost everything about Kageyama, thanks to Shouyou. His birthday, his favourite food, when he wakes up, what toothpaste he uses, his weird obsession with milk, his favourite song, why he thinks Quidditch should have a no flying penalty - everything.  
Yet Kenma still didn't feel comfortable calling him over.

"You do it," Kenma hissed, pushing Akaashi's plate of spaghetti to the side, shocking Akaashi and making him glare at Kenma. "He'll listen to you. He admires you." Kenma didn't know that for sure, but when Akaashi did talk to Kageyama (maybe once or twice in their lifetime) there was a presence of respect that Kageyama shows that Kenma could feel from the other side of the room. "Go. Tell him to sit with us."

Akaashi groaned, turning around and about to call Kageyama over, but his eyes widened when he saw, not Kageyama having left the table, but rather someone joining _him_. Someone willingly going over, sitting in front of Kageyama and eating lunch with him.

Kageyama also looked equally as surprised as Akaashi and Kenma did.

"Ah-" Kenma felt bad for some reason, like he was supposed to be the first person to call Kageyama over since he was...older? Because he knew from previous interactions that Kageyama wasn't a social person, but tried so hard to be? Because Kenma felt like if it were him in Kageyama's position, he would want someone to come over and talk to him first?

"Tsukishima looks so out of place there," Akaashi snorted, turning back around, taking back his plate of spaghetti. "There, he's fine now. Don't worry too much. Kageyama's old enough to be by himself."

That wasn't the problem, but Kenma didn't comment anymore on it, glancing at Tsukishima and Kageyama from time to time. That was the first time ever, Kenma saw Kageyama laugh.

"Woah, thanks Kenma!" Nishinoya stared at his gift awe. It was later that night, Kenma, Akaashi and Nishinoya gathered in the Gryffindor common room, giving Nishinoya his present, the first present exchange of their friendship. It wasn't too hard getting something for Nishinoya, especially because the boy was an open book, but the hard part was topping Akaashi's present.

"Keiji-kun!" Nishinoya exclaimed in excitement, putting down Kenma's present - 'Quidditch Through The Years - Deluxe Edition' - and held onto Akaashi's present with the widest smile ever, laughing hysterically.

"How did you know?"

Nishinoya was holding onto a pack of Dr. Flilbuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, at least 9 different possible colours and patterns. He stared brightly at Akaashi, putting them down and giving Akaashi a big hug. "Thank you! Now I won't get any more detention for blowing things up!"

Because everyone knew the story of Nishinoya's 'surprise firework show' he had for Asahi's birthday in their 3rd year.

"We can do them later tonight. When the prefects are finished their rounds," Akaashi suggested, the two of them nodding their heads in agreement. After hours were always a good idea, and they could even put a Silencing Charm around them so no one could catch them for sure.  
"Sounds like fun."

Al of them, whether they knew they were doing it or not, were staring out the window, unconsciously expecting a surprise visit from a certain trio. Two minutes of looking out longingly at the window though, and nothing.  
Perhaps because it was Nishinoya's birthday and not Bokuto's.

"Do we have anything else planned?" Nishinoya asked, trying to get everyone's mind off of how there were people missing from this party. Kenma even felt a little bad, now thinking about how Nishinoya was literally the only one who could really bring some life into this. Akaashi wasn't exactly a party animal either, and Kenma didn't really feel like putting that much effort into matching Nishinoya's energy.

"Yeah, we wanted to make you a cake with a new spell Kenma found in the restricted section of the library," Akaashi started taking his wand out, an eager Nishinoya nodding his head enthusiastically, propping himself up on his knees and watching Akaashi. Restricted and cake? That practically screamed Nishinoya. "What flavour do you want?"

While Nishinoya thought about it, Kenma was also thinking about something. His eyes were on Akaashi's wand, watching as he started waving it around when Nishinoya started to describe his perfect birthday cake, which sounded like a sugar high and ecstatic spasm away from a tornado of disaster in Kenma's humble opinion.

"Wait," Kenma took Akaashi's wrist, stopping Akaashi from finishing the spell, getting both Nishinoya and Akaashi to look at him. "What if we make the cake on our own?"

The suggestion had Akaashi shocked and Nishinoya thrilled, nodding his head in over eager agreement. "Can we? How do we do it?" Kenma didn't know either, all he knew was that they had to get a kitchen of some sort and ingredients. Like how Kuroo would make food at his apartment.

"Why all of a sudden?" Akaashi asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at Kenma. "No particular reason," Kenma shrugged innocently, standing up and wiping the dust off of his pants, already heading for the door.

"Just thought a night of no magic is just what we needed."

Baking was not the same as making a potion, it was made clear to Kenma. A little too late into the game, may he add.

"Oh for fucking shithead fucksticks bitchass piece of shit fuck," Akaashi said in one breath as his cake batter turned out all lumpy, trying to read the recipe again but he insisted he was doing it right.

"This is dumb! This so fucking stupid, how does this even make sense! Kenma, we should have just used our wands!" Akaashi's voice was frustrated, throwing the bowl of lumpy batter into the nearest sink, growling softly to himself. "This doesn't make sense. I followed the instructions. I did everything properly. This shouldn't be this difficult."  
This was the first time Kenma has seen Akaashi so worked up over something, but Kenma also realized that he shouldn't get on Akaashi's bad side. Ever.

"Oh, Kenma," Nishinoya called out softly, turning his head to look at Kenma. "The stove is on fire again.""It's suppose to be on fire, Nishi-" Kenma sniffed a few times once the smoke hit his nostrils, gasping when he realized 'on fire' to Nishinoya really meant 'flames and smoke are coming out of a rock'. Kenma was quick to get his wand out and take the fire out.

"How's yours, Kenma?" Akaashi asked with gritted teeth, looking down at Kenma's bowl of icing, sticking his finger in and tasting it. Akaashi made a face, pinching his lips to his nose and shuddering. "That's so bitter! What did you put in it?"

Kenma looked at the recipe again, furrowing his eyebrows then back in his bowl. "I should have made it right..." Kenma mumbled softly, looking back at the ingredients he used and huffing softly to himself before putting his spoon down.

"Eh? Kenma, what's 'baking soda?'" Nishinoya asked, holding up one of the container's that Kenma used for the icing. "Oh! Oh, oh, I needed that!" Akaashi exclaimed, reaching across the counter for it and snatching it from Nishinoya's hand. "I needed this! I've been looking for it everywhere. Why didn't you say anything when I was looking for it, Kenma?"

Kenma opened his mouth then closed it again, looking at the box of baking soda then at his recipe sheet again.   
"I...thought it was icing sugar."

The three of them broke into the kitchen, yes. Tickle the pear and it'll turn into a doorknob - everyone knew this. But Kenma didn't realize just how confusing kitchens were and how much they needed to thank whoever was cooking for them all this time because cooking was _hard_. How did Kuroo do so well at this anyway? Kuroo was smart, yes, but this was so complicated, so many steps, and for what? To eat? Kenma could eat an apple and call it a day.

"Let's just use our wands," Nishinoya groaned, taking his out already and pointing it at the big plate where Nishinoya's hand-made cake was supposed to go after Akaashi baked it and Kenma would be the one to decorate it. "Please, I'm so hungry!"  
"No!" Akaashi cut him off, taking Nishinoya's wand aggressively from him and glaring at Nishinoya. "We said we were going to make you a cake so we're going to make you a cake! No magic tonight!"

Kenma has never regretted words so much. This was why he didn't talk.

"Okay. So how should we do this?" Nishinoya asked, him and Akaashi looking over at Kenma and waiting. Kenma's eyes widened slightly and shrugged. "Why're you looking at me?""Because this was your idea," Akaashi stated bluntly, dropping the baking soda on the counter top so he could cross his arms. "What do you think we should do?"

Kenma bit his lip, knowing he sort of deserved this, but also didn't want to admit it. He felt so stupid right now, but he couldn't help it. He missed Kuroo and he thought if he did something the muggle way then he would feel a little closer to him.

"We should..." Kenma picked up the recipe book again and gave out a loud sigh, handing it to Nishinoya.

"Nishinoya can make the batter. I think he can handle it," Kenma gave Nishinoya a reassuring nod, then looked over at Akaashi. "And we can make the icing together. And let's make it colourful! For Nishinoya's birthday."

"For Nishinoya's birthday!"

They ended up not making the cake, but Akaashi used ' _Reverte_ ' to clean up the kitchen and Kenma poofed up a proper cake. Nishinoya was fine with it, scarfing down half the cake in seconds.

"You're only going to have one slice?" Akaashi asked, trying to get Kenma to eat another but he shook his head, refusing it. "No, I'm good, thanks," Kenma said quietly, putting his plate to the side, watching Nishinoya eating his sixth - seventh? - slice of the night. Just watching Nishinoya eat that much was enough to make Kenma feel plenty full already.

"I gotta say, Kenma," Nishinoya started saying, his mouth full of food that you could see the bits of cake in it. "I liked the idea of no magic. But let's face it, we need magic to survive! No way can we bake that stupid cake without it. Dunno how muggles last this long without magic though," Nishinoya hummed, finishing his slice of cake in two bites before going for another part of the cake (his eighth slice at this point).

"I know right," Akaashi mumbled quietly with a sigh. "And their imaginations....Bokuto-san reads this comic, right," Akaashi started saying, relaxing himself on the couch of the Gryffindor common room, curling up in the corner and facing Kenma and Nishinoya. "With this demon dog-human thingy, and a high school girl. And they fight demons and stuff...but the thing is, those things actually exist! I don't know how muggles just come up with those things! It's crazy...unless there's a wizard behind it. That would definitely clear up a lot."

Kenma and Nishinoya nodded in agreement, sighing as they thought about the muggle world, how different it was for them and how their worlds really didn't clash well at all.  
They were way to different in every way.

"Kuroo got me this game thing and it stopped working," Kenma grumbled, hugging a pillow tightly and squeezing his chin into the side of it. "I've only had it for 2 weeks. I don't know how it just...died. Muggle contraptions are inefficient."  
"Does it have battery?"

Kenma furrowed his eyebrows, almost angrily, turning his head to look at Nishinoya who didn't look like he was joking around with Kenma or anything, just trying to ask a question.

"What's a 'battery'?"

The three of them sat there, sighing one by one as they realized just how much of the muggle world they didn't know, even when they thought they knew everything, there was more to discover and unfold. Kenma couldn't even imagine what it would be like for Kuroo, having to go from knowing only the muggle world and then having to learn all about the wizarding world. Maybe that was why he was so smart. Because he was forced to be.

"Ah, it's my birthday! We can't just sulk around all night!"

None of them talked about the night Kuroo, Bokuto and Asahi visited - for a very brief moment, may Kenma aggressively add - in fear that someone would hear into their conversation, or mention it at the wrong place at the wrong time.

As of now, they've been secretly trying to find a way to get back to Kuroo, Bokuto and Asahi, and even check out the place they were staying. This place that Kenma had no idea about and was supposedly not as nice as everyone thought it would have been.

"You know, we should continue with this 'magic-free' night! It's pretty fun," Nishinoya grinned, reaching his hand out for either Kenma or Akaashi to take. "What else should we do, huh? Sew a shirt together? Or maybe we can try cooking again! Oh, oh! We can play some magic-free pranks on people in my dorm! They'd be so surprised, but too impressed that there was no magic involved!"

Kenma looked up at the eager Gryffindor, trying to figure out what was making him so jumpy and hyper all the time. Did he have some sort of switch he turned on and off but obviously forgot to turn off because this was literally Nishinoya 110% of the time. Kenma couldn't even imagine what this was like for Asahi, the poor gentle giant and his noticeably anxious personality.

"Nishinoya," Kenma said softly, a small smile playing on his lips. "How long has it been since you did something about your blond streak?"

When Kuroo did this, Kenma felt so relaxed, each step looking like Kuroo knew how to do the process by heart, not disturbing Kenma or giving him too many steps so he wouldn't bother him.

"Ow, fucking shit Kenma!" Nishinoya hissed, his eyes squeezed shut because they found out the hard way that bleach hurt when made contact with the naked eye, Akaashi actually had to blindfold him too just in case one of them makes a stupid mistake again. "Is it done yet?"

No, it wasn't done, and Kenma was silently panicking because Kuroo made it look so easy when he did it for him. Kuroo had tinfoil - check - and a brush to put the bleach in his hair - check.  
So what was Kenma doing wrong and why was this taking such a long time? It was only a section of hair, while Kuroo did Kenma's whole head.

"'Warning. Corrosive. Do not make contact with bare skin or eyes.'" Stupid Akaashi for reading out the label. Just when he was about to leave the bleach in Nishinoya's hair for 30 minutes and check on it to see if it was as blond as they wanted it to be. Nishinoya was visibly panicking when Akaashi read out the warning label, backing away from Nishinoya but Kenma made him stay in place by pinching his shoulder and pinning him down on the chair.

"Kenma, what does 'corrosive' mean?"  
"It means stop being a little baby and let me do this," Kenma breathed out in a slight hiss, wanting to prove to them - to himself, really - that he could handle muggle methods and do things the way Kuroo preferred to. He could dye Nishinoya's hair, he could bake a cake, all without magic if he wanted to because when you do something the muggle method and give up magic, you're one step closer to Kuroo.

Muggles feared people of magic, feared the world of the unknown. Maybe if Kenma just took one step closer, he could shorten the gap between them, even if it was just a little bit.

"Stop moving around, the bleach will get in your eye again!" Kenma demanded coldly, not yelling but giving Nishinoya the deadliest glare even though Nishinoya couldn't see it. "Just trust me, okay? You won't go blind.""I'm gonna go blind?!"

Akaashi was off to the side, watching in both amusement and concern as Kenma wrapped the tinfoil around the small section of hair on Nishinoya's head, not sure what the scene was supposed to look like but perhaps Kenma got an 'A' for effort. Kenma looked so focused, his eyebrows knitted together and trying his hardest not to get any more bleach on Nishinoya's skin than necessary. 

"Kenma, is it finished?"  
"Patience is a virtue, Nishinoya.""And if it was a test, we'd all be failing," Akaashi added satirically, making Kenma roll his eyes but he didn't comment back. 25 minutes later, something looked wrong with Nishinoya's hair though, so Kenma decided that maybe now, it was a good time to wash the bleach out.

"Lean forward," Kenma demanded, watching as Nishinoya leaned into the sink, Kenma letting the water run and took the section of hair out of the tinfoil. He rinsed it out for Nishinoya, Nishinoya's blindfold getting wet, but that didn't seem to be the biggest problem.

"Oh..." Kenma let out breathily, Akaashi beside him with his eyes wide and gulping.  
"No."

Nishinoya looked confused behind his blindfold, cocking his head to the side. Kenma left the bathroom, letting a baffled Akaashi handle the second part of the process and the bad news.

"My hair is white!!"

The next day, Nishinoya was storming the Great Hall, not even bothering to spike his hair up, letting his fringe hang down and covering his eyes and forehead, now with a bright white streak in the middle.  
Part of the problem though, was that Kenma didn't realize just how much hair he put into the tinfoil. So it wasn't a just a streak anymore, but the whole front of Nishinoya's hair was bleached white.

"Ah," Kenma looked up from his muffin, staring Nishinoya properly in the eye. "Yes. Yes, it is."

Nishinoya's face turned red, pointing to his white bangs and glaring at Kenma through the ends of his hair. "This is your fault! Do something about it!" According to Akaashi, Nishinoya didn't know any hair-dye-reversing spells, and neither did Akaashi. Even if Nishinoya did know one though, Akaashi wouldn't trust Nishinoya to do it on himself and would suggest a trusting adult do it instead.

"I think it looks good though-""'Good'? I didn't just hear you say it looks 'good'," Nishinoya growled, slamming his fist on the dining table. "I look like a fucking snow demon about to transform! I can't let Asahi-san see me like this!"

Kenma wanted to comment something like 'I bet Asahi-san would like you no matter what you looked like', but he realized that wan't apart of the problem either. Nishinoya probably trusted Kenma to the stupid bleaching even when he panicked and got worried it wouldn't work and burn his skin off. Which, Kenma started thinking, maybe he didn't want Nishinoya to lift up his bangs right now.

"Calm down, Noya," Akaashi motioned for Nishinoya to sit down with them, "talk about this more quietly." Nishinoya was fuming as he sat down in front of Kenma and Akaashi, crossing his arms and scrunching his face up at them.

"How can I be calm about this?" Nishinoya's voice got quieter as he started taking scones in his hand, humming softly to himself and taking big bites, also grabbing himself a cup of milk. "My hair is white! Who would be calm about this?"

Kenma could think of at least 5 people at the top of his head that had white hair and looked fine, but decided not to bring them up. "We could always dye it back to normal," Kenma suggested with a shrug. "The spell shouldn't be that hard."

Nishinoya glared at Kenma, pointing to his white bangs again and scoffed. "I'm not letting you mess this up again," Nishinoya humphed, stuffing his mouth with two scones and chewing with his mouth open. Akaashi had to tell him that was discussing and he needed to swallow before saying another word, but Nishinoya wouldn't listen.  
"It'll grow on it's own. Before Halloween I want it cut and then I'll dye it back to blond on my own, thank you very much."

Kenma didn't know if he should apologize or get upset with Nishinoya since he was accusing Kenma of doing something that someone could easily mistaken for a life or death situation without given context. When in reality, it was just Nishinoya's hair. It wasn't like Nishinoya looked dead or anything, his hair was just white.  
Well, his bangs were white. The rest of his hair was still black.

"Maybe Asahi-san will like it," Kenma shrugged, trying to at least get Nishinoya to calm down about it a bit, and the name 'Asahi' seemed to do the trick. "You never know. He could."

That seemed to shut Nishinoya up for the rest of breakfast, but Kenma could still feel the harsh glares at the back of his head throughout the rest of the week.

"Heard from Shouyou?" Kenma asked, helping Kageyama fold his laundry by hand, the two of them hanging out in Kageyama's room. Apparently only Kageyama and another Gryffindor 4th year were left in the dorm, everyone else having left so Kageyama was alone pretty much every night. Kenma took it upon himself to spend at least an hour with the Gryffindor every week.  
Apparently, though, Kageyama hasn't been having too much of a hard time on his own.

"Yeah, we talk every week. And he sends letters," Kageyama said, giving Kenma one of the most recent one that was written only a few days ago. Kenma had to squint to really read Hinata's writing, but he recognized the way he would write his 'ka's and 'ma's, smiling fondly down at the sheet of paper. "I still don't know a lot about where he's staying though. So I'm starting to get more worried."

Kenma froze when Kageyama commented on the unknown whereabouts of the muggle born and suspicious students were. If even someone like Kageyama noticed something weird, that meant there were more people other than Kenma thought thinking about this.

"Oh?" Kenma tried to act stupid, folding one of Kageyama's shirts and placing it neatly to the side. "What do you think? You think Shouyou is doing okay?" Kageyama's face showed he was thinking hard, scrunching his eyes and pursing his lips, almost like he was scowling but Kenma knew he wasn't actually angry. It just took a little more effort for Kageyama to think.

"I don't think so," Kageyama finally answered slowly, looking up at Kenma with a worried expression. "But I don't know what to do about it."

Kageyama was...perfect. The more Kenma thought about it, Kageyama was perfect. He wasn't as reserved or unenthusiastic as Kenma, he wasn't an over-thinker like Akaashi, and he wasn't anything like Nishinoya and jumping into things too quickly.

Kageyama was a good junior, obedient, capable and followed instructions well. He would be okay as long as Kenma or Akaashi told him what to do. He wasn't completely incompetent, and it wasn't like this was an academic challenge. It was something that needed physical skill and determination.   
And social skills, but Kenma could work on that.

"There is something you could do about it though," Kenma said slowly, sitting up from Shouyou's bed and walking over to Kageyama, sitting beside him. Kenma was looking up at Kageyama, his eyes so intense that it made Kageyama flinch. "Kageyama," Kenma called out softly, trying his best not to scare the poor kid, but he couldn't help it.  
Was Kageyama his only chance?

"You need to study muggles for me, yeah?"

The request made Kageyama back away, jumping up from his seat and scowling, clearly disgusted by the thought of 'studying muggles'. He looked confused and uninterested, not to mention Kageyama looked like he just didn't want to.

"'Study muggles'?" Kageyama repeated in an befuddled voice, shaking his head. "What does that even mean?" 

Kenma wanted to be one step closer to Kuroo. He wanted to be know just as much of the muggle world as Kuroo knew of the wizarding. He didn't want to visit Kuroo and get confused, he didn't want to meet Kuroo's dad and not understand.

He didn't want to be the so-called 'ignorant person' Kenma hated. He wanted to be someone Kuroo could rely on.

"It means," Kenma continued on, needing to give Kageyama an extra push. "When you meet Shouyou's dad," because he was a muggle, "you don't want to look stupid not knowing what's going on, right? You want to show Shouyou's dad that you're capable of taking care of his son. Don't you?"

That was all the push Kageyama needed to be on his feet and ready to join Kenma in the muggle world.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh _shit_ ," Nishinoya screamed laughing, throwing his head back. "We're actually doing this!"

Kenma didn't want to babysit Kageyama on his own, so he called for some help. So now him, Akaashi, Nishinoya and Kageyama were on their brooms, flying south towards the muggle world, sneaking out and planning to cross over, getting back to Hogwarts before the sun rose. Was anything even open at midnight in the muggle world? Kenma would find out quite soon.

"You sure you know where you're going, Kenma?" Akaashi asked, flying beside him and raising an eyebrow. "Yeah," Kenma nodded his head, keeping his gaze forward.   
Kenma has visited Kuroo's place over the summer enough times to know which way he was heading. The only problem was that he didn't know how to act without Kuroo telling him what was normal and not normal in the muggle world.

"Kageyama, are you okay?" Akaashi asked, the three 5th years looking over at Kageyama, seeing his tensed shoulders and pale face. He looked sick and uncomfortable - not exactly a good combination.

Kageyama nodded his head anyway though, reassuring them he was fine and just a little sky-sick, which didn't make sense to Kenma because Kageyama was literally on the Quidditch team. If anything smelt fishy though, Kenma didn't say anything about it.

"Ah," Kenma perked up, seeing the familiar pattern of street lights, the fog and mist of the clouds greying his vision, but all they had to do was push on for it to go away. "There. That's Kuroo's street," Kenma nodded his chin over at the bright, lit up street, some of the lights flickering and even some of them not working. Kenma could see Kuroo's apartment from up in the sky, the dingy brown building, even Kuroo's window was shattered but the family didn't have the time (or money) to fix it.

"Where are we supposed to land?" Kageyama asked, looking all over the ground for some sort of empty spot but there weren't many to choose from where they wouldn't get caught easily. Kenma knew though, again, having done this over a dozen times over the summer, leading everyone to one of the back alleyways that apparently no one went to because it was 'too sketchy'.

When everyone was down, they put their brooms behind a dumpster, clapping the dust and wood chips off their hands. "Now what?"

Kenma didn't know either, to be honest. He just wanted to visit the muggle world, at least once without Kuroo, and see how he would survive. He couldn't lie, he was hoping a professor or prefect would stop them before they went too far though so he actually wouldn't have to go through with the plan, but here they were. And it seemed like Kenma had the most experience in the muggle world so far.

"I'm hungry," Kageyama whined, holding his stomach. "Is there anywhere we can get food?""There is," Kenma replied shortly, looking past the alleyway and tilting his head. "But we don't have any money."

So that was how the four of them ended up walking aimlessly around the street of Kuroo's home town, looking at the buildings and stores, most of them closed since it was 1 in the morning and officially sleeping hours. 

"Why did we come here again?" Akaashi asked in a mumble, kicking a rock into a bush and watching it disappear. "It's not like we can really do anything." Four teenage boys walking down the street not really doing anything, Kenma didn't realize just how sketchy they must have looked.

"Oh, Kenma. That store is open!" Nishinoya exclaimed with a jump, taking Kageyama's hand and pulling him over to the bright building, the sign '7-11' shining brightly into their faces. When they actually went inside, everything was so white and...illuminated. It made Kenma's head hurt, especially after hours of wandering in the dark.

"Welcome!" The person behind the counter greeted them with a bow, the four of them awkwardly bowing back before rummaging through the racks and shelves of the store, trying to find something they could get.

But it turned out, everything needed money. Coincidentally like in the wizarding world.

"¥50," Kageyama mumbled under his breath as he looked at the hot food section, lifting his head up and putting on a desperate expression. "Is there any way I can get it for free?" The clerk at 7-11 gave Kageyama a weird look that made Kageyama sigh in defeat and look back at Kenma. "Guess that's a no."

"Ah! This one! Kenma, this one!" Nishinoya called out from a different aisle, pointing to something, making Kenma come and follow him.  
"This is the battery I was talking about! This is what a battery is! Asahi-san's younger sister uses them for her toy car. This one!" Nishinoya said excitedly, taking one of the battery packets out. "Eh, but there are a lot of sizes. Show me your Gameboy."

Yes, Kenma carried his Gameboy around, even if it wasn't turning on. He gave it to Nishinoya, Nishinoya reading the back and trying to match the battery description. "Here. AA," Nishinoya stated proudly, giving the pack of 8 batteries to Kenma with a cocky smile. "I bought some with Asahi-san once. Well, he bought it while I watched the, uh, I forgot. The freezing machine? Really colourful, swirls and swirls around?Something like that."

Kenma looked down at the pack of batteries, checking the price of them. All he knew was that if it had a number, he couldn't afford it. "¥500," Kenma grumbled, about to put the pack of batteries back on the shelf but then really thought about it.

He wanted to play his Gameboy again because that was one of the few things that actually made him fall asleep. He wanted a muggle thing, at least one thing if he wasn't going to get Kuroo for another couple months.  
He wanted to be closer to Kuroo, even if it was through this stupid game.

"That'll be ¥500," the cash clerk smiled at Kenma, already putting the batteries in a little plastic bag. "Would that be in bills or coins?" 

Kenma gulped, realizing now he could either turn back and pretend this never happened but lose his pride, or he could break the law both wizarding and muggle. "Uh," Kenma mumbled lowly, looking down at his hand, Sickles and Galleons in his palm. He could have bought the whole damn store if they took wizarding money, but here he was looking poor and pathetic.

"I mean..." Kenma sweated nervously, a bead dripping down the back of his neck as the clerk smiled down at him, waiting patiently for payment. "Was there anything else you needed?" He asked politely, making Kenma's stomach twist. 

He really wanted the batteries. He really wanted to get out of here.

But he really wanted to _stay_.

"Oh my!" Nishinoya dropped to the ground dramatically, throwing an arm over his eyes and moaning in exaggerated pain. "It's too bright! The lights are too bright! I think I'm dying. I'm dying! Goodbye, cruel world!"

Kenma's eyes widened, turning to see Nishinoya in the snack section, holding onto a bag of chips as he lay on the ground, his legs twisted awkwardly and his face all saddened and 'sick' as he pretended to be suffering from some sort of heat stroke.  
Kenma could see right through his stupid act.

The store clerk, however, was panicking when he saw a young teenage boy near fainting in his store, running over from behind the counter right away and going over to Nishinoya.  
"Are you alright, sir? How are you feeling?"  
"Hot! So hot! And I can't see! I might be blind!" Nishinoya dropped his head on the ground, rolling his eyes back so you could only see the whites, really selling the act.

In the moment of the cashier's panic, Kenma grabbed the battery pack and stuffed it in his pocket, whistling innocently as he walked out of the door, making sure the to go quietly so the bell of the door wouldn't ring. Kageyama helped himself to some boxes of milk while Akaashi played the good friend card, pretending to fan Nishinoya and explain to the store clerk his medical condition.

"If there's too many people around he gets like this," Akaashi explained seriously, wiping Nishinoya's bangs from his face and patting his forehead. "The bright lights, the many voices - all get to his head. Then he collapses like this. I'm so sorry to burden you with this."

Now Kageyama were standing outside, watching the dramatic scene unfold, the store clerk quickly going to the back to get a wet towel, and now, Nishinoya was putting muggle snacks into his pocket before Akaashi warned him that he was coming back, making Nishinoya play pretend once more.

"Kenma-san," Kageyama called out softly, not taking his eyes off of Nishinoya and Akaashi. "You said you wanted me to study muggles. What did you mean by that? Akaashi-san and Noya-san look like they're doing fine without me."

Kenma sighed softly, nodding, not expecting Akaashi to be so into Nishinoya's act, even starting to hold back tears when Nishinoya fainted again. "I thought out of all of us, you'd be able to figure out what was wrong in the muggle world," Kenma started off, expressing his thought process to Kageyama to make him understand. "I thought you'd be able to see what it was that separated us from muggles. What was the big deal. You know, I read a textbook that went over muggle hunting and when it even started in the first place. And at first, I was convinced. That muggles were the problems, not us."

Kageyama gulped, Kenma could see his neck bobbing up and down. Even though Kageyama was intimidating and looked like he could kill you if you looked at him the wrong way, Kenma had nothing to worry about. Because Kageyama knew too.

"But then I thought about it more, and you know what I realized?"

Kenma's eyes weren't leaving the store clerk as he tended to Nishinoya, patting the cold towel onto his head, using his very own supplies to give Nishinoya water and something to eat, not even noticing his stolen goods and only focusing on the wellbeing of a kid he didn't even know. 

"It's not muggles who are the problem. It's the opinions we have on them. And the opinions they have on us."

Before they knew it, Akaashi and Nishinoya were finished with their little act, coming out of the store like nothing happened, leaving a very confused store clerk and a happy Nishinoya with a pocket full of muggle snacks he would surely show off to the other Gryffindors.

"I'm tired," Kenma yawned, the other three having to look up at the moon to roughly estimate what time it was. "We should walk another round and see what-Kageyama?" Kenma's eyes widened as he saw Kageyama's face, finally, but it wasn't the regular straight expression he had.

Kageyama's face was scrunched up, his fist clenched as he squinted his eyes shut, his chest heaving up and down. He looked like he wanted to cry but was desperately holding it in, in a way that made Kenma rather have Kageyama just sob then and there if that was the face he was going to make.

"Kageyama, are you alri-""I went!" Kageyama exclaimed loudly, the whole street echoed his voice as he cut off Kenma. "I went, okay? I went to see Hinata, but I didn't see Hinata! I know where they're staying. I didn't tell you because Tsukishima and I just started getting along and I didn't want him to get mad, but-but-" Kageyama groaned in frustration, pulling at his hair and kicking the ground.

"They're being kept in some sort of prison where they all have to share rooms and there's no hot water. I know where they're _all_ staying! I-I-I'm so-sor-I should've told you sooner!"


	29. Akaashi

Date : October 14 1997

Time : 6:30 PM

Current Location : Headmaster Akaashi's Office

Mission : Adults don't listen all the time, but at least make dad listen. Because if dad doesn't listen then...well, try not to think about that too much.

"Please, dad, I'm just asking-"  
"'Headmaster'," headmaster Akaashi sighed, putting his fist down on his desk and giving Akaashi a stern look. Akaashi has been in the office for at least an hour now, pestering his father over a small detailed topic that Kageyama mentioned _once_ , and even though Akaashi knew that it wasn't a lot to go off on, it was more than he had a week ago.

"But I'm your son!" Akaashi exclaimed, standing up and looking down at his dad, frustrated and flushed. "Dad, just listen to me-""Enough, Keiji," headmaster huffed out, standing up and fixing his tie as he started walking to the other side of the desk. "I've heard enough from you. And Kenma, and Yuu, and everyone else you decide to spit this nonsense to."  
"But _dad_ -""'Headmaster," headmaster Akaashi repeated, narrowing his eyes at his son, making him sit down again. "When we're at Hogwarts, it's 'headmaster'. I can't treat students differently, Keiji, you know that," headmaster Akaashi cleared his throat, walking down the steps and heading to the door, turning his head slightly but Akaashi didn't even bother watching him go.

"You certainly don't treat me differently than your other professors. Right, Keiji?"

Without hearing an answer, headmaster Akaashi left the office, allowing Akaashi to willow in his pity and sulking, slumping down on the big chair headmaster Akaashi had for any visitors.

Akaashi has been there for a while, and it was the same story as the one he told last week, just with a little more detail. How Minister Faiji didn't actually take the Hogwarts students somewhere safe and how they were stuck in some sort of disgusting hostile that didn't even feed them properly.  
Then Kageyama. The 4th year actually left and _saw_ it all and can confirm that the place all the muggle borns were staying wasn't even the description his dad got when the transfer happened. Now Akaashi had an actual witness.

This would all be so much easier, however, if Akaashi could say names. Not wanting to get anyone in trouble, Akaashi kept the descriptions as vague as possible so no one got caught.  
Which was a more difficult task than he thought it would be.

"Man," Akaashi groaned, getting out of his seat and walking out of the office, keeping a calm demeanour - as calm as possible anyway - and walking back to the Ravenclaw Tower so he could rant to Kenma or someone about how unfair his dad was being.

But a rational, understanding part of Akaashi's brain was telling him that his dad's response was nothing but reasonable.

The Minister of Magic versus his love-sick son that clearly wanted to see his boyfriend again. Even Akaashi could do the math and realize why his dad was so quick to ignore Akaashi's words and tell him to stop being a child. His dad was clearly doing whatever he could in this situation and had a lot of stress on him already, Akaashi was just adding to it.

Still. Akaashi decided that being a little immature right now would do him some good if it meant he could get through his dad's closed off mind.

"Not listening still?" Kenma put his book down as he watched Akaashi walk in the common room, turning to face him as Akaashi flopped on the seat beside Kenma on the couch.  
"Is it that obvious?"

With headmaster Akaashi as Akaashi's dad, their little friend group thought they had this in the bag. Headmaster Akaashi was a good dad too, listened to whenever Akaashi had something to say, helped Akaashi when he needed it, and most importantly, accepted Bokuto in the family despite his controversial background and connections.  
Headmaster Akaashi was a good person.

Headmaster Akaashi, however, was also an adult. So listening to a kid - his or not - was something rare even if headmaster Akaashi was a relatively good father. Headmaster Akaashi was still the typical adult.

"Perhaps you should get Bokuto-san to come over again," Kenma suggested blankly. "No one can say no to Bokuto-san.""I can say no to Bokuto-san," Akaashi muttered quietly, crossing his arms over his chest and laying his head back on the headrest of the couch. "We just need something else. Something more," Akaashi continued on, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"I just don't know what yet."

Akaashi's answer came in the form of a fight that happened between Nishinoya and Oikawa. A normal Wednesday afternoon in the hallway.

"Say it to my fucking face, Shittykawa!"  
"Hah! Jokes on you, that name's already taken! Find another insult, you small brained asswipe."

Their fights, Akaashi knew, started way before Oikawa began tormenting Akaashi. Even though Oikawa slowed down his insults and taunting, Nishinoya still found reasons to hate Oikawa, and Oikawa reasons to pick on Nishinoya.

At this point, Akaashi didn't know who was really at fault anymore.

"'Small brained?'" Nishinoya repeated, clearly offended by Oikawa's name choice, probably because he did hit an accurate target. "You wanna come over and figure out how small my brain really is?"  
"Oh? Is that an invitation? I don't think I need it considering I can see how small your brain is from here," Oikawa spat out, already taking out his wand when Nishinoya took out his.

"You Slytherin scum!"  
"You spoiled Gryffindor!"

Like always, the two pointed their wands out at each other, about to shoot but at the last second Akaashi stopped Nishinoya and a surprise appearance from Ushijima stopped Oikawa. The two of them lowered their wands, but the intense look in their eyes, ready to fight didn't leave for a second.

"I'm going to blow his fucking head off," Nishinoya grumbled, stepping forward and puffing his chest out to Oikawa, and Oikawa didn't hesitate to do the same, but Akaashi was quick to stopping, holding a firm arm out in front of Nishinoya.

"I know you can," Akaashi said reassuringly, pulling Nishinoya the opposite direction. "But let's not get in trouble again. You've had enough detentions, I'm pretty sure you're actually going to get expelled soon."

It was concerning how excited Nishinoya looked in reaction to such a comment.

"I wonder what Oikawa shoved up his ass to make him like that," Nishinoya growled, stuffing Fire-Flaming Marshmallows into his mouth, making his cheeks all puffed out and chubby. "Whatever it is though, I hope he takes it out soon. I'm about to beat the shit out of him."

Akaashi ended up taking Nishinoya to the Ravenclaw common room again, planning to wait for Kenma to come back from his after school tutorial and then do something else together as a group, like homework or something. Not like there was much fun to have when it was just them, though Nishinoya did make things very entertaining to fill in the exciting personality Akaashi and Kenma lacked.  
Sometimes though, he would just get a little too extreme.

"Oikawa- _san_ ," Akaashi reminded Nishinoya, giving Nishinoya a look. "Be respectful.""I'll be respectful when he stops being a little shithead and starts treating me properly!"

Akaashi sighed, not wanting to argue with Nishinoya about this, deciding it was just better to let the poor boy rant. He got his hair messed up recently, and even though he had no intention to hide it, Akaashi knew every night Nishinoya would practice on whatever unfortunate furry creature came by his hair-dying spells. He's gone through purple, red, pink, neon green and a very sun-bright orange - every colour except black.

"Ugh, I wish he could see just how much of an ass he was," Nishinoya groaned, putting his quill down after writing absolutely nothing for his Care of Magical Creatures Essay. "Then he'll understand why I wanna kick him in the balls so much."

Akaashi's eyes went wide, perking up at Nishinoya's comment, blinking slowly and looking at the Gryffindor. "What did you say?" Nishinoya cocked his head, a bit confused at Akaashi's question, but answered slowly.

"I wanna kick Oikawa in the balls?"  
"No, before that," Akaashi shook his head, not addressing Nishinoya's crudeness. "How you wish he could see how much of an ass he is.""Ah, right," Nishinoya chuckled, letting a grin spread on his face. "You know, give him a taste of his own medicine or something. Let him know what it feels like to be treated the way he treats others. That'd really show him, you know?"

Like a lightbulb popping on Akaashi's head, all of a sudden, he had an idea.

"Daichi-san," Akaashi called out, having waited outside Daichi's class in between the bells. Daichi was caught by surprise, most definitely not expecting Akaashi to want to talk to him one day.

Akaashi couldn't lie, Daichi looked all panicky and worried.

"Daichi-san, may I have a word with you?" Akaashi asked softly, not wanting to accidentally come off as unfriendly or cold, like how a lot of people described him. It was very shocking just how many people mistaken Akaashi for a Slytherin because of this.

"It'll be quick," Akaashi reassured him, looking at the clock then back at Daichi. "It's about Sugawara-san. And, uh, all the muggle borns that left."

This seemed to get Daichi's attention, eyes slightly widening for a brief moment before nodding his head and following Akaashi behind one of the staircases. Akaashi predicted they had about 5 minutes before the staircase moved and exposed their whereabouts, and if Akaashi knew anything about Daichi from Bokuto, Daichi was a perfect student that needed to get to class on time as well.

"I just wanted to ask," Akaashi cleared his throat, a little thrown off when Daichi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Akaashi, looking like some sort of parent or adult.   
"I wanted to ask if you have anything of Sugawara-san's from the muggle world recorded. Like, uhm, a photo or something? Or even," Akaashi gulped, unsure how to ask this but felt extra determined to now that he realized the chance he had at this.

"A memory?"

Personally, to Akaashi, he's never witnessed injustice between muggles, muggle borns and pure blooded wizards. He's never actually seen Bokuto being treated wrongly because he was muggle born, only because his parents were hunters.  
And if Akaashi were to be honest, that much was understandable in a wizard's perspective.

But Daichi. Daichi knew what Sugawara had gone through, knew that in the Slytherin house how much bullying and torment Sugawara would have faced just coming from a muggle only background and has probably witnessed at least a handful of times the way the other Slytherins treated Sugawara before he started to get along with a few of them. Daichi had to know, and he had to have those visuals somewhere suppressed in his memory if not fresh in his mind.

And Daichi seemed to know what Akaashi wanted specifically, gulping at the question.

"What do you want to do with it if I say yes?" Daichi questioned, folding his arms tighter over his chest and leaning down to reach Akaashi's eye level. "What if I do say yes? What are you going to do about it?"

Daichi had to know. There was no way Akaashi would be asked these questions if Daichi didn't know. And if Daichi knew, that meant he had to be doing something too, right? He wouldn't just stand there while Sugawara suffered. Daichi wasn't like that.

"I would," Akaashi gulped, backing away a bit when he saw how intensely Daichi was staring at him. "I would like to see it. Memory, memento - anything," Akaashi confirmed, getting a short nod from Daichi before he backed away.  
Akaashi sighed in relief, about to thank him but then Daichi started to walk past him.

"My memories are mine, Akaashi. I know what you're doing, but I don't think I can help," Daichi turned his head to look back at Akaashi, giving him a warm smile that made Akaashi sick to his stomach. He didn't want a friend right now.

"Not this way anyway."

Maybe it was the way Daichi said it. Maybe it was because Akaashi was desperate. Maybe it was how it's been one whole month and it took Akaashi this long to realize just how much suffering Bokuto went through just from being born into the wrong family.

Maybe it was because Akaashi knew but didn't do anything about it till now.

" _Legilimens_ ," Akaashi had his wand out, pointing it to the back of Daichi's head, right in the centre, letting the flash of glowing white stream out of his wand and connecting him and Daichi together. Through the waves, Akaashi could hear voices, see people, smell the places Daichi has been to. Slowly, Akaashi walked over to him, finally coming into contact with Daichi and holding his shoulder. That was when Akaashi could see every bit of Daichi's memories and emotions.

_"Dai-chan! Dai-chan, look at mama!"_

_The woman was tall compared to a baby sized Daichi, clapping her hands as she watched her son walking to her, clumsy steps stumbling over and falling so that his mom would catch him._

_"Yay! You're such a big boy now, hm? You don't need mama anymore?"  
"Mama!" The baby giggled, a chubby face that looked nothing like the Daichi Akaashi knew. He had such a bright face, so much love and affection from his family, Akaashi understood why Daichi was the way he was._

_This was Daichi's memories. Akaashi was in Daichi's memories but it wasn't like he meant to go back this far. So Akaashi waved his wand once more around him, swirling into the next memory, watching Daichi's mom and baby Daichi fade away._

_"Oi, Sawamura!" First year Kuroo and Bokuto approached Daichi, both with brooms in their hands and towels on their shoulders. Bokuto distracted Akaashi, obviously, and Akaashi suddenly wished he had a way to take this memory from Daichi instead._

_"Come play a game with us! Put that book down," Kuroo snatched the book Daichi was reading, laughing when Daichi tried to get it back. "Kuroo! Kuroo, that's not nice-""Eh? You wanna be a lawyer or something in the future?" Kuroo snorted, giving the book back to Daichi, Bokuto laughing along in the background. It took Akaashi a few seconds to realize that Daichi was reading 'Wizards In The Future : Laws To Be Made And To Be Broken'. Akaashi felt some sort of warmth in his chest when he remembered Daichi did mention one time how he wanted to work on the police force in the wizarding world._

_"Leave me alone," Daichi growled, stuffing his book back into his bag. "I can't play with you. My broom's getting fixed after Bokuto broke it.""Hey, I didn't break it," Bokuto humphed back at him, crossing his arms and pouting. "I was trying to get the quaffle! Not my fault you didn't fly out of the way in time."_

_Right. Bokuto did use to play Quidditch before Akaashi joined the team and quote-unquote 'distracted' Bokuto during every Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw game._

_Akaashi knew he should have been going and looking through other memories, but he decided to stay in this one a little bit longer._

_"You think we can get someone else to join? 3 on 3 isn't right."  
"I said I can't play," Daichi repeated, passing by them on huffing. "Broom's broken, remember? Thanks to a certain someone.""Hey! Look, if I had the money to pay for both your broken broom and my chocolate frogs, then maybe we could agree on something."_

_Akaashi couldn't help but giggle, even in his 1st year Bokuto was immature and lively. It sort of made him wish that he did know Bokuto at that age, and maybe they could be friends faster. Even though they were only a year apart, maybe being the same age would be easier on Bokuto._

_"Ah, leave Sawamura- **san** alone then. Let him be all high and righteous with his 'Law For Magics' or whatever," Kuroo stuck his tongue out at Daichi, making Daichi roll his eyes and shake his head at them._

_"When I become a law enforcer you two are the first ones I'm arresting!"_

_When Bokuto no longer became apart of the memory, Akaashi swirled his wand around again, wanting to see another one, hopefully this time getting one with Sugawara in it._

_And he did find one. But it wasn't the one he wanted._

_"Come on Daichi-kun, be more rough!" Sugawara groaned, smacking Daichi's ass, making Daichi squeal in shock, turning his whole body red from head to toe._

_And when Akaashi said whole body, he meant **whole** body._

_It wasn't his intention to walk in (drop in? He wasn't sure what the right word was in this situation) but it happened. Akaashi got a memory of Sugawara and Daichi doing it in either Daichi's or Sugawara's bedroom. By the amount of green in it though, Akaashi guessed Sugawara._

_"I don't want to hurt you," Daichi muttered softly, kissing the side of Sugawara's head. The two of them were stark naked on the bed, pressed close against each other so Akaashi couldn't really see much, but his mind could make up what was going on. He tried waving his wand around to leave the room, but it seemed like he couldn't do that until the whole memory was finished.  
Which was abso-fucking-lutely fantastic._

_"You won't hurt me," Sugawara chuckled, kissing Daichi on his jaw and bucking his hips up, making Daichi moan and squeeze his eyes shut. "I can take it, alright? I know whatever you do it'll make me feel good."_

_Akaashi looked away when Daichi started to move, covering his ears so he didn't hear anything. He should've known something like this would pop up, and to be honest, he felt like it was a punishment for invading Daichi's memories. He knew he wasn't suppose to do this, but he couldn't help it. He needed a memory, any memory with Sugawara being harassed by Slytherins, a Slytherin calling him a mudblood even would be perfect._

_But when the memory of Daichi and Sugawara getting at it ended, the rest were equally as fluffy and great. All of Daichi's memories were...nice._

_Not a single one with Sugawara being treated badly. Not one._

_Even though Sugawara spent 5 years being bullied for being muggle born._

"What was that?" Akaashi asked aggressively, pulling his wand away and putting in his pocket. His jaw clenched and he felt like he waisted a powerful spell for nothing, his whole body drained and limped.

How Nishinoya was able to do that spell, he wasn't sure. Apparently Nishinoya had done that spell so many times, he's gotten immune? Akaashi had to ask how many times he had to do it in order for him to be strong enough to fight the after fatigue.

"Sugawara-san has been tormented all of these years. Don't tell me you've never seen it," Akaashi demanded, a little too urgently, not his regular calm self and instead a more worked up version of himself. Because he was relying on those memories Daichi had to give him what he needed to show his dad so he could understand why they needed to at least check up on the new school.

"Where are they? Where are those memories?" Akaashi's voice got louder, feeling the back of his throat tighten up, Daichi's expression not changing at all. It was pissing him off, how calm Daichi was, taking Akaashi's hand and pulling it off of his shoulder. Akaashi only tightened his grip.

"Where?!"  
"I've only seen it once," Daichi admitted finally, making Akaashi's jaw drop and let go of Daichi. "I've only seen it once," he repeated, letting the words hit Akaashi again. "I don't have a full memory of it. I just know that I hated every second of it. It will really take you some time before you can find it, I can promise you that. But just know," Daichi looked at Akaashi, giving him a weak smile. "I regret not doing anything sooner. I don't plan on acting so late this time."

Akaashi's eyes softened, feeling his hand shaking as he fully processed what this meant. Daichi had no vivid memories of Sugawara's tormenting. He didn't actually fully see Sugawara going through the bullying, the one-sided fights he was apart of that Akaashi only knew from the rumours and the talk from the grades lower. Daichi's memories were useless to Akaashi.

And now Akaashi broke the law for nothing.

"Dammit, Daichi-san," Akaashi grunted in frustration, feeling his chest squeezing inward as his mind crumbled, thinking about what just happened. "Why did you let me then? You knew what I was doing but you still...you still-""Because," Daichi cut him off, putting a hand on Akaashi's wrist, looking at him and knitting his eyebrows together, a serious expression on his face as Akaashi's breathing started to slow down.

"You got to see Bokuto again. Didn't you?"

Akaashi gritted his teeth, snapping his hand away from Daichi's grip. "I want to see Bokuto-san again in front of me!" Akaashi yelled, not meaning to raise his voice, but wasn't able to control it. He just...exploded.

"You know, Daichi-san. I know you know! So help me. Help us, hel-help _them_."

Daichi's face dropped, looking down at the ground and cocking his head to the side, thinking about something. Akaashi so desperately wanted to do the Legilimency spell again just so he could know what Daichi was thinking.

"Akaashi. Your dad, he's-" Daichi cut himself off, trying to use his words right before looking up at Akaashi, offering him a helpless shrug. "I just don't think you should be getting involved. If your dad were to find out-""I know you don't know me well, Daichi-san," Akaashi breathed out, not wanting Daichi to finish that sentence because it would be the first time Akaashi would hear the words out loud and not just in his head.

"But you have to believe me when I say that my fear of punishment is a speck of dust compared to what I'm willing to do for Bokuto-san. So please," Akaashi looked up at Daichi, his expression desperate, his hands trembling as he took Daichi's collar. Daichi was a big chance, not his only, but one of the best. Akaashi just wanted Bokuto safe again, with him and not in a dangerous situation whether it be his hunting parents or unfair treatment from the Ministry of Magic.  
Akaashi wanted Bokuto back with him. 

"Help me."

Daichi agreed to help, on the condition that Akaashi spilled what he knew and Daichi would tell Akaashi everything he figured out. So that was how Tsukishima, Kageyama, Akaashi and Daichi ended up in the library together, awkwardly sitting on one side each of a square table, a single textbook in the middle to look like they were studying.

"I don't get why I'm here," Tsukishima grumbled, pushing his glasses up. "I don't take 6th year Divination.""You're here because I told you to be," Kageyama growled back, kicking Tsukishima's leg.  
"Oh? I didn't realize I had to follow His Highness's rules all of a sudden. Is this because I was nice to you for a few days? Thought I was your fool or something?""Shut up! We're here because we were called together, you dickwad!"

Daichi amazingly silenced both of them by slamming the table and giving them a harsh look. To Akaashi's amazement, it got both of the 4th years to sit up straighter, paying more attention and keeping quiet, even Tsukishima.

"I asked you to come here because Akaashi said you two know something we don't," Daichi cleared up, leaning forward on the table, targeting Kageyama first. "Kageyama-kun? Is there something you want to tell me?"

Kageyama tsk'ed, whipping his head at Akaashi and glaring at him, knowing exactly what Daichi was talking about. Akaashi played innocent, looking at the ceiling and trying not to make eye contact. The night Kageyama confessed him and Tsukishima actually went to the school Bokuto and Hinata and Yamaguchi and Sugawara and everyone was staying at, Kageyama begged that they don't mention it to anyone until he convinces Tsukishima that they needed to do something about it so he could pretend that Kageyama spilling the secret wasn't during a time Tsukishima didn't want it to be spilled.

Akaashi might have broke the promise and Tsukishima wasn't on board yet with the whole 'let's save our friends' ordeal.

"Well..." Kageyama mumbled, looking down at the table before kicking Tsukishima lightly. "It wasn't my thing. Uh, Tsukishima actually..." It took Tsukishima a while to process what Kageyama was implying, his eyes slowly widening as he put the pieces together and laughed when he realized what had happened.

"You dumbass!" Tsukishima exclaimed angrily, making Kageyama flinch and back away. "I told you not to tell anyone! Now look at you, blabbing to every friend you make! This is why you don't have anyone to talk to! Because you're not a good friend!"

That seemed to hit a blow, making Kageyama look at Tsukishima, his face turning red and scowling at him. "Hey! I want to get my friends out of a shithole like that place you took me and you think you can call _me_ not a good friend?! You don't even want Yamaguchi out and he's the only person who can put up with your shit!"  
"I never said I didn't want Yamaguchi out of there! And-And you've been putting up with my shit perfectly fine this past week!"

The librarian came to their table, telling them to quiet down, Daichi apologizing and promising they'll be quieter. Tsukishima and Kageyama hung their heads down as Daichi started scolding them about their behaviour.

"You two need to stop only thinking about yourselves for once," Daichi hissed, hitting Kageyama on the head and threatening to hit Tsukishima if he acted up, not caring if he was a Slytherin. "We have a bigger problem right now, bigger than any of us. So act a little more mature already. The world isn't as warm and sheltered as Hogwarts is."

Akaashi watched in awe and realized for the first time what a natural born leader looked like. "Ah," Akaashi let out, not even realizing what he was saying. "I get why Bokuto-san was kicked out of the Gryffindor Quidditch team now."

That night, Daichi planned for them to go see the other school. Akaashi went with it, of course, wanting to see this school the minute Kageyama explained what it looked like and the brief conversations he happened to hear through an opened window.  
And Akashi hoped, even if it was just a glimpse, that he would be able to see Bokuto again.

"Ow-" Akaashi covered his mouth quickly after tripping over one of his blankets, his heart pumping through his ears as he watched Kenma moving in his sleep. Midnight was a very early time for Kenma to be sleeping, but Akaashi assumed all those nights staying up till 5 in the morning were catching up to him.

Without another sound, Akaashi started tiptoeing out of the Ravenclaw tower, something he did all the time before when he wanted to meet Bokuto, but now he was doing something much more risky and could get in way more trouble for.  
He was actually going to leave Hogwarts this time.

" _Alohomora_ ," Akaashi whispered to the Ravenclaw locked door, getting it to open and quietly walking out, shutting the door with the most minimal moments possible. They didn't have a lot of time to begin with, but Akaashi refused to sacrifice their one chance at getting to the school.

Just like Daichi said, everyone met at the back of the Ravenclaw Tower, apparently there being some sort of blind spot there that everyone knew when they snuck out. It seemed that Daichi has snuck out of Hogwarts more times than Akaashi.

"We're flying there?" Daichi asked in shock when he saw Kageyama and Tsukishima bringing their brooms, standing like some sort of power couple together with them.

"What? You wanna walk all the way there?" Tsukishima retorted, Akaashi staring at the two of them to see if they were being serious as well. Turned out they experienced walking there and it was over a 3 hour trip, plus they had to go back as well. 

"I mean, we could use our wands, but that'll attract too much attention," Tsukishima added on, already mounting his broom, Kageyama beside him doing the same thing. "So are we going or what?"

Akaashi and Daichi were thinking the same thing, looking at each other and then looking back at Tsukishima and Kageyama. "But...we didn't bring our brooms with us."

That was how Akaashi ended up back in the Ravenclaw Tower, trying to silently sneak in again so he could grab a broom - any broom, it didn't even have to be his - searching in the dark so he didn't somehow wake anyone with even a small flicker of light. This would have been so much easier if Tsukishima just told them before to bring a broom and not just surprise Daichi and Akaashi with the sudden need for one.

Akaashi was successful, surprisingly, a random broom having being left in the common room, right on the table. Feeling the carving of the name he took a guess it was 'Miya Osamu''s and he would surely thank the other Ravenclaw after.

Walking out of the common room, Akaashi thought it would be smooth sailing from there. He would go just like he did a few minutes earlier, meet the others behind the Ravenclaw Tower and they would fly high to Bokuto's school and see just how bad it was.  
Unfortunately, it seemed like Akaashi's luck ran out that night.

"Wha-" Akaashi gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening and heart beating faster when a white fading figure flew by him, stopping right in front of Akaashi. Letting out a sigh of undeserved relief, Akaashi slowly lowered his hand.

"Peeves. It's just you."  
Peeves, a very mischievous poltergeist that liked playing pranks on the students at Hogwarts, peered over Akaashi, eyeing him skeptically, looking at Akaashi and then the broom Akaashi was holding.

"Son of the headmaster, sneaking out, are you?" Akaashi gulped, assuming Peeves would have let him go since he liked being in on tricks and breaking the rules. "I-I mean, uh, I'm not-""You weren't very nice to me last year," Peeves accused Akaashi, floating over him and narrowing his eyes at the 5th year, Akaashi being able to see the walls behind Peeves through his body.

"I won't forget that."

Akaashi cursed under his breath as he remembered the way he would dismiss Peeves so easily, telling him to scram, snatching things away from him. It wasn't Akaashi's fault though! Peeves was an annoying prick!

"Please," Akaashi whispered softly, begging Peeves with wide eyes. "Just let me go this one time. I'll do anything." It was a stretch, there wasn't much you could do for a ghost.

But Peeves looked amused, cocking his head to the side with a wide grin. "Anything?"

A chill ran down Akaashi's spine as he nodded his head slowly, telling him the worst Peeves could do was ask him to kill someone, which Akaashi would heavily reconsider depending on the person.   
Not that Akaashi was a murderer or anything. But if he had to choose between them and Bokuto...

"Fine," Peeves hummed in amusement, nodding his head and letting Akaashi go. "Just remember your promise to me, yeah? I didn't like how you treated me last year." Akaashi nodded vigorously, bowing hard before making his way down the hallway, broom clutched tightly in his hand.

And for a moment, Akaashi actually thought he was going to make it.

"STUDENT!" Peeves booming voice filled the hallways, Akaashi stopping in the middle of the hallway. His eye went wide, snapping his body turning to look at Peeves with a shocked, hurt and vividly angry stare.

Peeves shrugged innocently.

"STUDENT! STUDENT RUNNING AWAY! STUDENT RUNNING AWAY! HELP! HELP, THEY'RE SNEAKIN' OUT 'ROUND HERE! TEACHER, TEACHER!"

Akaashi sputtered, attempting to run back to the Ravenclaw Tower, but it was too late. Teachers and prefects came from different sides of the halls, probably alerted in some sort of magical immediate way that wasn't helping Akaashi in the slightest. Professor Takeda came up to Akaashi, looking at the broom, then at Akaashi before sighing softly.

"Akaashi-san-""Yes sir," Akaashi sighed in defeat, not bothering to put up a fight he knew he was going to lose anyway. He gave professor Takeda the broom, slumping his way to the headmaster's office, walking straight through the smugly smirking poltergeist.

"Why, oh why," headmaster sighed heavily, hanging his head down. Headmaster Akaashi had his robes thrown on lazily, his eyes sunken in like he just woke up (because he did just wake up), hair tossed all around his head. His face was very similar to Akaashi's when he was relaxed, which Akaashi learned was not something he should comment on when he was getting chewed out.

"Am I here, Keiji? Hm? Please tell me in very _specific_ detail why I had to wake up at-at-what time is it even?" Headmaster Akaashi growled, snatching the big wooden clock on his desk then showing it to his son. " _2 AM_. Just to come and see my own son in outdoor clothes, trying to sneak out to god knows where." Akaashi flinched when he heard his dad huff in disappointment.

Akaashi was just glad that he was the only one that got caught.

"Dad, I was just-""Ah. I'm not even going to correct you this time," headmaster Akaashi yawned tiredly, slouched down in his seat, something he would only do when it was his son sitting in the chair in front of him, rubbing his eyes tiredly and shaking his head.

"Keiji, I'm serious. What is with you these days?" Headmaster Akaashi asked desperately, knowing his son wasn't usually like this. Akaashi was behaved, quiet, and never made any trouble intentionally.

"You try being separated from mom," Akaashi grumbled moodily, crossing his arms and looking away. "See how you like it.""Enough," headmaster Akaashi responded sternly, not liking the attitude his son was giving him. "You and Koutarou-kun aren't the same as mom and I."

Even though Akaashi knew that was the truth, he still felt like his dad would understand if he just experienced a little bit, maybe witness the exact torture both Akaashi and Bokuto were going through.  
And speaking of torture...

"Dad, you have to believe me," Akaashi all of a sudden looked at his dad with wide and desperate eyes, leaning on the desk and putting his hands together like he was about to say a prayer. "The place Bokuto-san is staying at. It's not what you think! They have nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep and no clean water! Please, dad, you have to believe me!"

Headmaster Akaashi looked down at his son confused and skeptical, Akaashi couldn't tell if he was considering it or just thought his son went crazy. "And...how have you come to that conclusion?"

Right. Again, Akaashi couldn't get into great detail as to how and why he knew this, and he didn't even have any evidence that what Bokuto said was true. But Bokuto said it and that was enough for Akaashi.  
At the same time, Akaashi didn't want to rat anyone out. Not Bokuto, not Asahi, not Kageyama nor Tsukishima. Not any of them.

"Kuroo-san..." Akaashi started to say slowly, and right away headmaster Akaashi's face went red. "Ku-Kuroo-san...he..." for some reason, flashes of Bokuto appeared in Akaashi's mind and his mouth went dry. Bokuto and Kuroo, having fun together in the muggle world, talking about things Akaashi didn't understand and maybe never would.  
Then Kenma came into the mix and Akaashi all of a sudden just couldn't. No matter how annoyed he got at Kuroo for taking people from him just because of his outgoing attitude and overall well-roundedness, Akaashi couldn't throw him under the bus like that.

"I have a hunch," Akaashi ended up saying softly, feeling the back of his throat close up and his eyes watering. He needed his dad to believe him. "Dad, did you know Sugawara-san got bullied? He got called a 'mudblood' so many times and I-I always avoided watching because I told myself it would just be worse the more witnesses there were. But now I regret it because now I'm just as bad as the people who tormented him."

Headmaster Akaashi's face softened, looking down at his son and for once, letting him finish speaking. "And-And Asahi-san! Asahi-san, when he buys textbooks, they look at him weird when they find out his mom's a muggle. They don't treat him nicely and keep their distance. Did you know that? And Kuroo-san! He's getting no help from the Ministry of Magic because his financial problems are muggle. No support, no check-ins, nothing!"

Akaashi's breathing went heavy, his voice hoarse as he was doing his best to get what he _could_ out. No solid proof, but sincere words that he was violently hoping would get across.

"And Hinata! Hinata, he struggles so much in school, but that's because when he came into Hogwarts everyone expected he just knew magic. But that's not the case! There's a whole other world out there, dad! A big one, with different cultures and inventions and languages - a whole world that Bokuto-san's apart of and I'm not there-" Akaashi covered his mouth as he lost track of what he was actually trying to say, squeezing his eyes shut and taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. This wasn't about Akaashi not knowing about the muggle world, Akaashi had to remind himself. It wasn't about Bokuto and him living separate lives, nor was it about how Bokuto genuinely did like the muggle world and was considering staying there for the rest of his life.

It was about the injustice Bokuto faced for wanting all of that. The terrible treatment he got for being born into a family he couldn't control.

This problem was much bigger than Akaashi and Bokuto. And Akaashi needed to remember that.

"Okay," headmaster Akaashi's voice softened, patting his son on the head, Akaashi couldn't help but jump on the desk and pull his dad in for a hug without even realizing, sobbing into his shoulder.

"I knew!" Akaashi cried out, his words muffled in the his dad's robes though. Even the rubbing of his back Akaashi's dad was doing wasn't calming him down. "I knew muggles borns were treated badly! But I just-just watched be-because Bo-Bokuto-san-I told myself-I-" Akaashi couldn't get out his words properly, so his dad just shushed him, telling him to talk slowly.

Akaashi was a kid. They were all kids compared to the adults around them. So why was Akaashi the one fighting?

"I-I didn't-I-I walked away w-when Suga-Sugawara-san was-and-and I get mad at-at Kuroo-san and-a-and-" Akaashi sobbed harder, clutching his dad's sleeve, the sobbing borderline wailing as he poured out his heart, his regrets.   
How Akaashi didn't do a thing back then, even though he knew in the back of his mind what was going on.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry-I-I didn't do anything! But now I-I will! I'll do something n-now."

Akaashi cried until he was tired out, and that night headmaster Akaashi let his son sleep in the headmaster's quarters, because headmaster Akaashi couldn't sleep properly that night anyway.

Detention was inevitable. Akaashi knew that much, even asked to be punished because he didn't want his dad to be whispered about for playing favourites. He was already being gossiped about enough for the separation that happened.

"Pick the weeds with this," Kiyoko explained, holding up a weird fork-looking thing except it had five prongs and curved at the end, the hand made out of rubber and of course was a lot bigger. "It might take you a while." Akaashi nodded, taking the odd rake object, looking down at the Quidditch field and sighed softly. "Thank you, Shimizu-san," Akaashi bowed, Kiyoko offering a nod back.

"How's the Halloween planning going?" Akaashi asked, Kiyoko staying for a few minutes to make sure Akaashi was pulling the weeds out right. It was an easy but tedious task. Perfect for a detention.

"It was going okay. My planning committee is hardworking, which is just what I need," Kiyoko explained, Akaashi looking up at her. Kiyoko was looking out in the distance, he regular poker face actually softening.

"But?" Akaashi filled in, feeling like there was more Kiyoko wanted to say. "But," Kiyoko repeated softly, looking back at Akaashi and sighing. "It doesn't feel the same."

Akaashi didn't ask what or how, because he felt like he could understand the feeling perfectly fine. The Halloween party this year was supposed to be big, supposedly one of the biggest celebrations had in decades, so the party planning committee had a lot on their hands.

And Akaashi and his little friend group had a plan for Halloween.

The Whomping Willow was off limits on Halloween because of the Lunar Eclipse, making it dangerous for students without supervision. The Whomping Willow was dangerous regardless, no students should easily walk onto that territory.  
Since it would be officially off limits though, apparently a plan to charm it so really no students could go near it, Akaashi, Kenma and Nishinoya thought it would be the perfect private spot to discuss what was happening in the school without the huge party happening.

"Wouldn't everyone be like that though?" Akaashi wondered out loud, after Kiyoko left, picking at the weeds and taking them out, placing them in a bucket next to him. He went about it for about an hour, only a fifth of the Quidditch field done.  
Hard, tedious work that made Akaashi sweat like a pig in the month of October, but it was helpful taking his mind off of things.

"If everyone has something to say," Akaashi whispered softly to himself under his breath, picking at one weed that was being stubborn and not coming out of the grass. "Then what are Kenma, Nishinoya and I really doing?"

Because wouldn't everyone be talking about that shitty school when they came for Halloween? Surely no one would forget what happened or how the Ministry treated them. Bokuto wouldn't, right?

But then again, when Bokuto visited on his birthday, he didn't even think about going to the headmaster and telling them what was happening. Wouldn't have it been a perfect time? They got into the school and everything, didn't they? Why haven't they came back? Was it actually that difficult? How hard was it and how far was the school from Hogwarts?

So many things Akaashi still didn't know, so many questions unanswered...

"Excuse me?" A familiar voice called out to Akaashi. "Excuse me? Can you help us? It seems like we're a bit lost."

Akaashi's heart dropped, turning around when he saw Bokuto's parents, actually there, at Hogwarts. Well, they wouldn't know they were at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was charmed so muggles couldn't see it. It would look like some disgusting, dingy broken castle with a large warning sign at every corner that told muggles to leave. What did the Quidditch field look like then? How did Bokuto's parents get in?

"Uh, uhm," Akaashi coughed awkwardly, standing up right away. He took his cloak off since he was getting hot, but his robes still looked out of place compared to the regular clothes Bokuto's parents were wearing.

"We were looking for a hunting field," Bokuto's dad filled in, a large rifle in his hand, and Akaashi just noticed the crossbow in Bokuto's mom's. Gulping hard, Akaashi realized he needed to get them out of here quickly before his own dad saw and completely disregarded the night before. Akaashi felt like seeing muggles with hunting supplies in the wizarding world would be a major set back.

"Ah, uhm, yes!" Akaashi said quickly, dropping his weed-collecting thing, walking past Bokuto's parents and pointing to another direction, a random one, just to get them out of Hogwarts property. "This way! This way, I know what you're talking about."

Akaashi's plan was just to get them to leave the premise so no one would get hurt, and it seemed like Bokuto's parents were buying it by following him. "Thank you so much," Bokuto's mom laughed, giving Akaashi a warm smile. "You're a good kid. What were you doing out here on your own? Looks dangerous."

Akaashi felt his whole body warm up, blood rushing from his cheeks to his toes as his mind conflicted itself. Were these Bokuto's parents or were they hunters? They were both, weren't they?  
But what did Akaashi consider them as? What did _Bokuto_ consider them as?

"I was...uh, helping! Yes, I-I know the owner of this property so-""You know the owner?" Bokuto's dad cut him off excitedly, the rifle in his hand being put away in the case on his back. "So you know what we're hunting, do you?"

Akaashi gulped, looking back with a timid expression, unsure how to reply. Without thinking, he nodded his head slowly and all of a sudden the Bokuto couple were clapping eagerly.   
"That's perfect! That'll make the hunting process a lot more easier, wouldn't it honey?""Oh yes!" Bokuto's mom agreed, putting an arrow in her crossbow. "Our target today is a unicorn! You wouldn't happen to know where they usually wonder, do you?"

Akaashi's whole body stiffened when they clearly confirmed that the hunting they were doing was the hunting that his dad and the Ministry were warning everyone about.  
By law, Akaashi should have handed them in right away.

"Ah, I don't know that well," Akaashi laughed nervously, leading them straight out of Hogwarts property to a random field of land, safe from the wizarding world. All they had to do was cross the boarder. "I'm sorry you got lost. Uh, if that's all-""Wait," Bokuto's mom called out, looking at Akaashi and cocking her head. She was staring a bit too intensely at him that it made Akaashi shake in his robes. He remembered obliviating her, so why was she so skeptical.

"You're really young," she commented disapprovingly, shaking her head as she tsk'ed. "That's not right. They shouldn't let kids out here on their own. You could really get hurt, you know?"

How ironic. If they found out Akaashi was a wizard then they would skin him alive, cut his throat so he couldn't speak anymore, maybe even sell him to a foreign country to perform tricks and earn them a few extra dollars.  
Those were Bokuto's parents. Rifle, crossbow and all. 

"Why..." Akaashi found himself whispering, his eyes glassed and distant, and all his breathing could do was shallow when Bokuto's mom raised an eyebrow at him. "Hm?"  
"Why," Akaashi repeated, shaking his head, his hand jittering and lifting up to hold her crossbow with her, his hand touching the very tip of the arrow. The metal part was made out of steel. 

"Why do you hunt them? What did they do to you?"

He didn't mean to make his voice sound so desperate or hurt. He didn't want to give himself away. Akaashi's eyes were watering, but no tears came out as he looked at Bokuto's mom's face, her features terribly similar to Bokuto's. Not all of them, only her smile really, and that was Akaashi's favourite part of Bokuto. To see Bokuto smile again, Akaashi would give away the stars.

"You're a very sympathetic boy, aren't you?" Bokuto's mom observed with a fond smile, patting Akaashi on the head. "So maybe you don't understand, but I'll tell you something that you need to think very carefully about when you're at a young age," Bokuto's mom lowered her voice a bit, letting Akaashi calm down first by stroking his head. It wasn't like his own mom, Bokuto's mom had a playfulness to it that reminded Akaashi way too much about Bokuto.

"When you realize what you're capable, it's becomes very hard to ignore. So be wise deciding what you want to be good at. Okay?"


	30. Nishinoya

Date : October 15 1997

Time : 2:47 PM

Current Location : Hufflepuff Hallway, just trying to get to Herbology class

Mission : If Oikawa wants to act like a dog all the time then at least put a leash on him.

"You're so fucking in for it, you Slytherin piece of trash!" Nishinoya growled in a violent tone, pulling his wand out like he always did in these situations, not even thinking about who was watching. Nishinoya stopped caring at a certain point.

"Come at me!" Oikawa screamed back, taking out his wand too, the two of them aiming their wands at each other before yelling spells, borderline trying to kill each other. Of course Nishinoya didn't actually want Oikawa to die, not really. But with how Oikawa has been treating Nishinoya recently, treating everyone, Nishinoya could only take so much.

Nishinoya didn't want Oikawa to die. Just barely.

" _Aqua Eructo_ _!_ " Nishinoya let a jet of water pour out of his wand, harshly like a hose, spraying all over Oikawa. The pressure was so hard, Oikawa fell back on his ass with grunt, not being able to cast a spell back quick enough. Nishinoya let the jet of water erupt for as long as he wanted before it was cut off by a sudden burst of light from Oikawa's end.

" _Obscuro_ _!_ ". Nishinoya all of a sudden couldn't see, binds tightening around his head and covering his eyes. He tried desperately to tug them off, but it seemed that the spell Oikawa casted made it so it was impossible for Nishinoya to take the blindfold off.

" _Flipendo!_ " All of a sudden Nishinoya was flying backwards, not knowing where he was going because Oikawa fucking blindfolded him. In a few seconds though, he hit his head on the wall with a grunt, laying on the ground for a moment before getting up and retrieving his wand from the floor. It was big and thick, perfectly easy to find for Nishinoya.

" _Firestorm!_ " Nishinoya knew he shouldn't have been using powerful spells, even if it was Oikawa he was fighting, but he couldn't help it. In the heat (no pun intended) of the moment, Nishinoya wanted to show Oikawa exactly what he was messing with and doing a complex spell was the perfect way. A ring of fire lit up around the two, and even though Nishinoya couldn't see he could feel the scorching heat and guess just how high the fire was. Oikawa's steps were inside the circle, enough to tell Nishinoya he still had a chance to beat his ass.

" _Levicorpus!_ " Nishinoya pointed to a random direction as he casted the spell, which by the way is not safe in any way, no one should be doing that, but he did it anyway in hopes of getting Oikawa.

"You really wanna try doing magic when you can't see?" Oikawa said from behind Nishinoya, making Nishinoya turn around. " _Ventus!_ " A gust of wind shot out of Nishinoya's wand, blowing the fire higher into the sky even though Nishinoya's aim was to blow Oikawa into the air. He had a feeling his spell was unsuccessful though, when he heard steps walking around him.

"I can beat you up with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back!" Nishinoya threatened, gritting his teeth as he whipped around, the blindfold still tightly tied around his head.

"Is that so?" Oikawa hummed in amusement, but Nishinoya couldn't see his expression. "If that's the case then... _Incarcerous!_ " Nishinoya gasped when he suddenly felt ropes wrapping around him, binding his hands and feet together, unable to move no matter how hard he struggled. He didn't actually think Oikawa would take it seriously!

"Go on, you strong, brave Gryffindor," Oikawa spat out satirically, Nishinoya could see the smug look and smirk from behind the blindfold. "Beat me! You said you could do it like this, right? Then go ahead and fucking do it!"

Nishinoya was about to. He still had his wand in his hand, it wasn't like it was impossible. Difficult as it was to move his hand with the ropes bound around him, he managed to flick his wand just enough to get some of the ropes to cut, which was enough room for him to cast another spell as well.

" _Accio-_ ""That's enough!"

There was a booming voice and the heat of the fire all of a sudden went away. Nishinoya's blindfold was taken off, the ropes around him fell and he was looking up at a startled Oikawa. Nishinoya jumped up on his feet, wand clutched tightly in his hand as he turned to see headmaster Akaashi approaching them angrily, his wand in the air, probably from after reversing all the spells that happened between Oikawa's and Nishinoya's fighting.

"You two," headmaster Akaashi's jaw clenched, sighing loudly. "My office. Now."

Nishinoya has heard those words so many times that he didn't even find it threatening anymore and has learned to look at it as an invitation instead.

"Why is it always you two?" Headmaster Akaashi asked, a sarcastic smile on his face as he looked between Oikawa and Nishinoya.

Nishinoya's hair was all over the place, his clothes dusted with soot and his wrists and ankles red from being tied up. Oikawa had cinders and smoke marks on his face, his shirt half burnt (which Nishinoya was very proud of) while his hair was sticking up like Bokuto's. It was not the messiest they've been when coming to headmaster Akaashi's office.

"You can't tell me no one else gets into fights."  
"Not on a daily basis, no," headmaster Akaashi retorted Oikawa's sassy remark easily, making both Nishinoya and Oikawa sit a little straighter. "I don't know what exactly has happened between you two to make you your relationship like this." Oikawa was about to say something but headmaster Akaashi stopped him with a wave of his hand, not wanting an actual breakdown.  
"But you two are behaving like children. It's not benefiting anyone." 

Nishinoya knew this, and Oikawa probably did too. They weren't fighting to benefit anyone, it wasn't for anyone's entertainment, not even show people who was stronger or more powerful to prove a point.  
They did it purely based on the hatred they had for each other, and no other reason than that.

"Yuu. Keiji speaks so highly of you, but day by day I find it more and more difficult to believe what a great wizard you are," headmaster Akaashi sighed, giving Nishinoya that disappointing dad look that all dad's knew how to do. It sent a shiver down his spine and made him both annoyed and regretful for his actions. But when in the corner of his eye, Oikawa was biting the inside of the cheek impatiently like he was waiting to get out of the office, Nishinoya gritted his teeth and clenched his fist up.

"I am a great wizard! Did you not see the spells I casted back there? Only an advance, powerful wizard can do that! I have Phoenix Tail in my wand!" Nishinoya exclaimed, waving his wand around crazily, headmaster Akaashi had to calm him down so he didn't accidentally hurt anyone.

"Yuu," headmaster Akaashi exhaled heavily, shaking his head. "A great wizard isn't about what he can or cannot do." With the way Nishinoya furrowed his eyebrows, the headmaster could sense Nishinoya's want to retaliate something back, but quickly stopped him.

"It's about what they _choose_ to do. So please, Yuu. Choose wisely."

Oikawa and Nishinoya left the office, of course not talking to each other, but not fighting either. Just walking quietly down the hallway as far from each other as possible.

"You really need to-""I don't need advice from you," Nishinoya cut Oikawa off quickly, glaring up at the Slytherin but not initiating any sort of physical fight. "It's bad enough you're my senior. To think someone as immature as you is.""Immature? _I'm_ immature? That's rich coming from you."

Nishinoya didn't even bother continuing the argument, feeling like he was talking to a rock whenever he tried to get his point across. He thought he started off pretty reasonable as to why he didn't like Oikawa - cocky, arrogant, selfish and over all a self-centred prick that needed to understand what it was like to have the short end of the stick.

"At least I don't have the personality of a dried up mop," Nishionya grumbled his breath after turning to head to the Gryffindor Tower where Oikawa and him were separating. Oikawa stopped walking and Nishinoya could feel the burn on the back of his head, Oikawa trying to murder him there on the spot.

"Nishinoya," Oikawa called out suddenly, making Nishinoya stop walking and turning to look at Oikawa. To his surprise, Oikawa wasn't glaring at him, not a scowl or a fidget of detest from him. In fact, Oikawa seemed rather...calm.  
It made Nishinoya more anxious than ever.

"Nishinoya," Oikawa said again, clearing his throat, Nishinoya realized a second too late that this might have been the first Oikawa called him by his name. That also made Nishinoya anxious. Was Oikawa going to die?

"I respect you as a wizard," Oikawa said slowly, Nishinoya's eyes widening in shock when he heard the words, but what shocked him the most was that Oikawa wasn't being sarcastic.

"Powerful, strong. You're...You're not bad at magic."

Clearing his throat, Oikawa turned around and started walking at a fast pace towards the Slytherin Tower, and never before had Nishinoya wanted to blast Oikawa's head into a thousand pieces.

"'I respect you as a wizard.' What's that even suppose to mean?" Nishinoya exclaimed loudly, him and Akaashi and Kenma sitting together at lunch like always, and Nishionya didn't forget to tell his friends what happened in headmaster Akaashi's office. He always told them, never missing a detail about the cool spells he shot at Oikawa, the new and the old.

"I think," Kenma mumbled, not looking down from his Gameboy (which had battery now thanks to Nishionya), "it means he respects you." Kenma looked up after a happy tune played from his Gameboy, indicating he beat the level. "As a wizard."

Nishinoya scowled, not liking the answer at all, turning behind him to see Oikawa happily eating lunch with his Slytherin friends like nothing was wrong at Hogwarts. Did Oikawa not notice how half the student population had disappeared? Did he really forget Iwaizumi left that quickly?

"I think you're overthinking this, Noya. And that's coming from someone who overthinks all the time," Akaashi pushed a plate of food for Nishinoya which Nishinoya scarfed down without pause.

"I'm just saying!" Nishinoya shouted with a mouthful of food, Kenma grimaced when he saw what Nishionya was chewing. "He's a piece of shit and now he wants to kiss up? He's up to something! I just don't know what it is yet..." Nishinoya narrowed his eyes skeptically, the gears in his head turning as he looked back to see Nishinoya smiling at Goshiki, petting his head. So even someone like Oikawa can act like a good senior - key word : act.

"This is an unhealthy obsession," Kenma sighed, pressing the buttons of the game harder, cursing when he messed up but didn't stop his commentary. "I think you just need something to fill in for Asahi-san while he's gone. Something that'll take up your time and energy. And Oikawa-san is the next best thing since you not only do magic, but you get in trouble. Two in one for Nishinoya." Kenma pumped his fist up weakly in mock excitement then quickly went back to his game. "What I'm saying is that you're bored. Oikawa-san gives you something to do."

Sputtering like an idiot, Nishinoya looked over at Kenma in disbelief. How could he say something like that? Just using Oikawa as entertainment...that wasn't it! Nishinoya actually disliked Oikawa with a passion.

"Why-Why are you saying something like that?" Nishinoya didn't mean to stutter out, crossing his arms and puffing himself down. "That's not true at all! I'm really showing this guy a lesson by fighting him all the time. How can you even say that?"  
"Because you hang out with us all the time," Akaashi said bluntly, looking up at Nishinoya and shrugging weakly. "We know we're not like your regular friends. And frankly, we won't try to be."

Nishinoya babbled out gibberish as he watched Kenma and Akaashi finishing their food, leaving Nishinoya a mountain of meat and rice, which he didn't complain about, but thought Kenma and Akaashi would leave. To his relief, they didn't.

"Oikawa-san is a good wizard as well, Noya," Akaashi reminded Nishinoya, making the Gryffindor roll his eyes hard, not wanting to remember. Oikawa has done powerful spells on Nishinoya before that ultimately made Nishinoya 'lose', but Nishinoya always fought back harder.

"Or perhaps," Kenma chimed in after beating another level of his game. "You're practising spells? For when Asahi-san comes back."

This time Nishinoya dropped his jaw, slamming the table at the accusation. "Kenma," Akaashi scolded lightly for Nishinoya since Nishinoya looked like he was about to burst. "You know Noya wouldn't do that. That's unethical and wrong. Not even Oikawa-san would be a target for Noya. Take that back." Kenma didn't take it back, looking up at Nishinoya's red face.

"Am I wrong?"

Nishinoya glared at Kenma intensely but didn't answer, because somewhere deep down, maybe Kenma wasn't.

"Veela?" Nishinoya repeated in shock. "You're really part Veela?"

Akaashi gave Nishinoya his wand so he could inspect it himself. "Beech wood. Veela hair core," Akaashi explained, letting Nishinoya gape at the rarity of the wand, not as rare as Nishinoya, but he would have never guessed. "Mom's side or dad's?""Mom's. Well, my grandma is a Veela. So I guess I'm a quarter. Not really anything significant."

Nishinoya was still impressed by Akaashi's bloodline now that he found out more to it than just wizard, which was already cooler than his own. "All my family is are a bunch of magic loving junkees," Nishinoya chuckled, not embarrassed about his family at all. "But to be honest, it was just my grandpa and me."

Becoming friends with Akaashi, Nishinoya ended up hanging around Ravenclaws in general, which came to be a shock since everyone thought Nishinoya was going to hang with the Hufflepuffs during this separation. But when they saw Nishinoya's bright red tie in a sea of blue, no one could have guessed someone as serious or straight-minded as a Ravenclaw could put up with Nishinoya's shit.

"What do your parents do?" Akaashi asked, sitting on the floor of the Ravenclaw common room with Nishinoya, taking his wand back. "My mom is a publisher and editor for textbooks and manuscripts. And you know what my dad does." Nishinoya laughed, nodding his head.

"My dad is a freelancer, I guess. Does work for anyone who'll hire him," Nishinoya explained, Akaashi nodding his head slowly, probably trying to imagine what 'anyone' looked like.

"And your mom?"  
"My mom's a deputy headmistress."

Akaashi dropped his wand at the title that came out of Nishinoya's mouth, eyes wide in shock, his head craning to look at Nishinoya. "She's a _what_?" Nishinoya never understood why no one believed him or was stupidly shocked whenever he told them what his mom was. Did it seem like all of Nishinoya's family were just a bunch Nishinoya Yuus? Whatever that meant, the definition of 'Nishinoya Yuu' differing from each respective person.

"Deputy headmistress," Nishinoya said again, taking his wand out and waving it around, using the _accio_ spell to get one of his mom's documents (which he wasn't allowed to do, but he did it anyway).

"See," Nishinoya grinned proudly, showing off to Akaashi the parchment of an official certificate, Nishinoya's family name proudly stamped at the bottom with a declaration of academic honesty and a pride in her job. Nishinoya loved to brag about the people he loved, his mom included.

"Where is she the headmistress?"  
"Deputy," Nishinoya reminded Akaashi, poofing the parchment back to his house so that he wouldn't get in trouble again for stealing it. "And she teaches at 'Beuaxbatons Academy of Magic'. She's their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

Akaashi's jaw dropped, looking at Nishinoya with a blank stare, Nishinoya had to curtesy of shutting Akaashi's mouth the tip of his wand. "That...explains so much," Akaashi said with a hefty breath, making Nishinoya cock his head in slight confusion.  
"Noya, you're the breathing embodiment of the phrase 'don't underestimate me'. Have I told you that?"

Nishinoya blushed, laughing modestly and fanning his hand away. "Ehh, don't say that," Nishinoya grinned, enjoying the praise but not wanting to look too cocky about it. "I'm just a regular wizard."

Akaashi didn't say anything else because he didn't want to explain how that wasn't meant to be a compliment. 

Detention was always sucky, especially because it always involved Oikawa. Something about 'spending time together will bring you closer' or something, but that was a bunch of flaming lies. All it did was make Nishinoya hate Oikawa even more.

"I can hear your radiating anger from here," Oikawa muttered loudly annoyedly, making Nishionya wince in irritation. "What does that even mean?""It means," Oikawa put down the trophy he was polishing - because their punishment that weak was polishing the thousands of trophies at Hogwarts without Hogwarts and a wet rag - turning to look at Nishinoya. 

"That you're pissing me off."

This was usually how their fights started, one of them provoking the other, and of course they couldn't say no to a fight. But after what Kenma said about Nishinoya being 'bored' something felt off.

If Nishinoya was bored without Asahi, then he couldn't help but think about how 'bored' Oikawa was without Iwaizumi. If that was the case though that meant-

"You're a piece of shit!" Nishinoya growled, dropping the trophy he was polishing with a 'clank' standing up and stomping over to Oikawa. Putting a hand on his hip and leaning to one side, Nishinoya leaned down so he could come face to face with a sitting Oikawa, glaring at him with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"You're just using me for your entertainment. Aren't you?"

Oikawa was shocked, taken aback by the sudden accusation. His eyebrows rose before he leaned his head back and started laughing. "W-Wow!" Oikawa clutched his stomach, Nishinoya stood straight again and watched Oikawa, his face scrunching up in vexation and confusion. 

"What're you laughing for? Stop that!"  
"Y-You!" Oikawa pointed to Nishinoya, leaning back in laughter, so far back he actually fell off his seat but he didn't seem to care. Instead, he just stood up, now towering over Nishinoya, still laughing his head off as if there was a joke that Nishinoya was supposed to be laughing at too. Was polishing trophies this entertaining to him or something?

"Your brain is really smaller than I thought, huh?" Oikawa raised an eyebrow at Nishinoya, looking down at him and now putting a hand on his own hip, one-upping Nishinoya. "Listen, kid-""Don't call me kid," Nishinoya spat quickly, not wanting Oikawa to think he had the high ground. Size was nothing if you weren't good at what you were doing. 

"Listen," Oikawa grinned down at Nishinoya for some reason, making Nishinoya grit his teeth and ball his fists up, not understanding where Oikawa got his cockiness from. "You really oughta think your actions through sometimes, yeah?" Oikawa's grin left his face, his mouth dropping into a cold expression that Nishinoya hadn't seen or noticed Oikawa could do.

"Because I'm really not liking how our friendship is taking a turn."

Nishinoya's eyebrows furrowed his eyebrows even more, scrunching his whole face up in confusion. "Fr-Friendship? You're calling this a friendship? Who the fuck would want to be your friend!"

But Oikawa was already putting the polished trophies back, shaking his head and heading towards the exit of the dungeon they were stuck in together. "Nothing, nothing. Forget it," Oikawa sang out, waving his hand at Nishinoya. "I'll see you later. I'm sure you'll try blowing me up sometime soon, right?"

Nishinoya has never had so much rage balled up in his chest before, all because of Oikawa. But now, he had to consider if Oikawa was even feeling the same amount of rage, or if this was really just a game to the Slytherin.

"'Friendship, friendship'. What the fuck is this guy talking about, 'friendship'?! We don't even like each other! How dare he call it a 'friendship'." 

Kenma didn't even flinch, not looking up from his game and simply nodding. "Uh huh...""And how dare he use me as some sort of entertainment piece! He thinks I'm some sort of clown that'll blow up a balloon for him when he tells me to? Ugh, he needs to piss off!"

Kenma nodded in clear disinterest, pressing the buttons harder and moving his Gameboy side to side. "Really...""And another thing!" Nishinoya smacked the desk, Kenma and him in the library and meaning to 'study' but that hasn't really been too successful for them. "He still hasn't apologized to Keiji-kun properly for bullying him when the separation was announced! Sure, he doesn't do anything now, but it still wasn't nice of him!" Kenma finally stopped his game, pausing it and sighing as he placed down on the desk.

"Nishinoya," Kenma said slowly, looking at Nishinoya through his hair. "Don't you think you're being a little _too_ obsess with Oikawa-san right now? He's literally all you've been talking about these past few days and if I were to be honest," Kenma cocked his head, looking dead into Nishinoya's eyes.

"It's annoying."

A shiver went down Nishinoya's spine when Kenma's face went even more serious than usual, his gaze piercing. Nishinoya even gulped out of shock and fear. "I-I'll stop talking for now then..."

Without saying anything, Kenma went back to his game and left Nishinoya just with him and his thoughts, the beeps and dings of Kenma's Gameboy filling in that silence.

Honestly, Nishinoya did miss Asahi. All the fun things he used to do with Asahi, how he would sneak around and meet with him, do crazy things Asahi made sure wouldn't hurt Nishinoya, 'study dates' that lately have been turning into makeout sessions that were sloppy but oh did Nishinoya love them so much. It was undeniable how much Nishionya missed Asahi.

And on top of missing Asahi, Nishinoya missed his Gryffindor friends too. Yes, he loved Kenma and Akaashi, but Tanaka. Hinata, Bokuto, Terushima, Lev, Kogane - they were all gone too. Nishinoya missed them so much, getting into trouble, late night talks about nonsense horseshit, just having fun altogether. Those were moments needed in order to let out the amount of steam and energy his natural body had.

But that didn't mean he was obsessed with Oikawa. Sure, he was finding an outlet to get all of his rage out, but that didn't mean he was obsessed. It just so happened Oikawa was the only one who could possibly fight Nishinoya and be on his level about it, their intensity matching.

Really, Nishinoya has tried picking fights with lots of Slytherins. Goshiki didn't dare touch a senior, whether short or Gryffindor. Miya Atsumu was too cheeky and didn't bother, not wanting to get into trouble (Nishinoya learned his twin brother wouldn't let that happen). Tsukishima just didn't give a shit no matter how much torment he went through. Kunimi was really mean.  
All in all, Oikawa was the perfect fit when it came to being Nishinoya's rival.

And Nishinoya hated that too.

"Are you sure you're okay with spending your birthday like this?" Nishinoya asked, looking down at Kenma as the blond rested his chin on the table but continued playing on his muggle device. "We didn't even get you a cake or anything like that. I feel like we should be doing something special."

October 16 wasn't too far from October 10, and Nishinoya wanted to make sure Kenma got an equally big celebration as he did on his own birthday. However, after many, many, many, _many_ repeated times from Akaashi, Nishinoya had come to a realization that maybe Kenma wasn't big on birthday celebrations and maybe they should just leave him in peace and pretend like it wasn't even a special day in general. Nishinoya still gave him a present (a new broom!) but that was it. It made him feel bad, especially when Kenma put an effort on Nishinoya's birthday.

Well, he did turn his hair white. But the heart in it was still there.

"I'm scared you'll fuck my hair up too," Kenma scoffed softly, making Nishinoya pout, reaching to tug Kenma's hair. "That's not funny! I still haven't found a spell to fix it," Nishinoya grumbled, pulling some of his fringe down and sighing when he still saw white. Nishinoya didn't always care about his looks and what people thought of him appearance wise, but this was really something else.

"Hey, Kenma," Nishinoya called out softly when an idea popped into his head, only getting a disinterested hum from a gaming Kenma. With a small smirk, Nishinoya tapped the table, right beside where Kenma's head lay, making the Ravenclaw finally look up.

"Don't you think you need a haircut?"

Learning the ' _Diffindo_ ' charm in their 1st year, a charm that makes precise and clean cuts, Nishinoya thought it was a pretty useless spell. Of course, until their 5th year and he found out you could actually kill people with it.

Nishinoya wasn't going to kill Kenma though. He was just going to cut his hair.

"I'm trusting you because you trusted me," Kenma whispered softly, closing his eyes and gripping the hand rests of his chair tightly. "But you make one mistake and I'll curse you for 3 generations."

Nishinoya chuckled at the threat, never going to admit out loud how much Kenma scared the shit out of him.

"Ah, do I really have to watch?" Akaashi asked, crossing his arms from across the dorm and watching with a blank stare. "I'd rather not witness a murder in my youth." Nishinoya appreciated how Akaashi didn't specify who would be murdering who.

"Calm down, calm down," Nishinoya said, his wand already pointed at Kenma's hair, planning to just cut an inch of it off. "I know what I'm doing. Asahi-san practised this with me at least a million times."  
"But you probably never cut his hair before." Nishinoya decided to ignore Kenma's crude comment.

"Cutting hair is the same as cutting, er," Nishinoya had to think about it for a bit, biting his lip and scrunching his face up in deep thought. "The same thing as cutting...cloth! Yeah, that's what they use in class, right?"  
"Maybe if you stopped falling asleep in class, this wouldn't be up for discussion," Akaashi threw in, making both Nishinoya and Kenma looked at Akaashi in disgruntle. "Well," Nishinoya humphed, going back to Kenma's hair and playing with the ends of it, trying to see where he should cut. An inch? Maybe a half. That should be fine. As long as he didn't make it crooked.

"I'm going in, Kenma," Nishinoya said, his voice unintentionally more like a warning than a signal. Nishinoya stepped back, pointing his wand to Kenma's hair, clearing his throat and getting ready to cast the charm.

" _Diffin_ -""Wait!" 

Kenma cut Nishinoya off before Nishinoya could say anything, making Nishinoya drop his wand automatically. "What? What is it?" Nishinoya asked in a state of panic, thinking he did something to hurt Kenma by accident. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened to Nishinoya.

"Tr-Try it on the curtain first," Kenma demanded, quietly but firmly. "I want to see you cut the curtain _perfectly_ before you do it on my hair." Scowling, Nishinoya didn't put a fight because that would just cause more suspicion (advice from Daichi), stomping over to the curtain and holding it up, pointing his finger an inch from the bottom to show where he was going to cut it.

"Right here," Nishinoya said, annoyed he had to prove himself before he could do something when Kenma had all the rights to fuck up Nishinoya's hair. At the moment Nishinoya pointed his wand up, aiming for the curtain, the wave of the fabric exposed the window and what was happening outside.   
And in that moment, Nishinoya stopped.

"What're you waiting for?" Kenma asked urgently, but also noticed Nishinoya looking out the window, like he was deep in thought. "Nishinoya?""Professor Takeda is a pure blood, isn't he?"

Akaashi and Kenma looked at each other before rushing up to the window with Nishinoya, and Nishinoya didn't hesitate opening the curtain a little more for them to see what he was seeing.

Professor Takeda coming out of a muggle vehicle - a _car_ \- then waving his wand around, making the car invisible. He was quite far from Hogwarts, just on the borderline of Hogwarts property. The three of it could see it clearly though, the car being there then vanishing before professor Takeda was jogging back to Hogwarts, not noticing the three students watching him without a blink.

"He was probably..." Kenma started off the thought quietly as his eyes followed professor Takeda back into the school.  
"Visiting someone," Akaashi went on, looking at Nishinoya with wide eyes in realization.  
"From the other school." Nishinoya finished off with a gulp. He knew they were all thinking the same thing. If professor Takeda was driving a muggle car, using a muggle contraption, then that could mean a lot of things.

One of them being professor Takeda had to succumb to a _muggle_ invention just to see professor Ukai. That shouldn't be the case when you live in a magical universe.

"Well," Akaashi whispered, the three of them facing each other in an odd triangle-circle, making awkward glances at each other. "We know where his car is," Kenma commented casually, his uncut hair covering his eyes, but Nishinoya could imagine what he looked like right now too.

"Just saying, not to brag," Nishinoya cleared his throat, looking up at the Ravenclaws with a more bashful look than before, scratching the back of his head. "I've actually _ridden_ in a car before so I know how it works and all-"

That was enough for Kenma and Akaashi to both be running out of the room, Nishinoya not hesitating to follow them down the Tower and towards the car that belonged to professor Takeda.

"Move, you motherfucker! I'm driving!"

Wind racing through their hair, windows down with the wind breezing on their faces, and Akaashi's wand controlling the car in the first place, Nishinoya, Kenma and Akaashi should have understood what they were doing when they even formed the plan in their minds. But they were so desperate, racking ideas on how to get to the other school for the past 3 weeks ever since Asahi and them visited on Bokuto's birthday.

Now that there was an opportunity, how were they not supposed to take it?

"How are you doing this again?" Nishinoya asked, him in the driver's seat and holding onto the steering wheel, just like how Saeko did it. Occasionally he would move the stick on his side a bit, just to make sure he looked accurate, but other than that he had no idea what he was doing and Akaashi was doing most of the work with his wand in the backseat. 

"There's a spell where you can see the last spell casted," Akaashi explained, Nishinoya nodding slowly and thinking if they've actually learned that before or if Akaashi just knew because he was smart. 

" _Prior Incantato_ ," Kenma filled him in, sitting in the passenger's side and playing on his Gameboy like always. "We learned it last week." Nishinoya's mouth made an 'o' shape but he decided not to admit that he skipped that class because he was in a huge fight with Oikawa.

Speaking of Oikawa, what was he doing right now? Nishinoya could bet he was making himself look pretty in the boy's bathroom right about now, not giving a shit about anyone at the other school.

"Cars are dumb inventions," Akaashi mumbled in the backseat, looking out the window and watching them zoom on the road. "What do they do? Just roll around?""Cars are actually really smart of muggles," Nishinoya commented, noticing that these days, Akaashi hasn't been all that well. Not saying all of them have been that great, but Akaashi, ever since he had his first detention of the year, wasn't on his best side. And Nishinoya being one of his closest friends wanted to do something about it if he could.

"Especially since muggles can't fly or anything, it's really effenent-""Efficient, Nishinoya.""Right. Efficient!" Nishinoya grinned, turning around to look at Akaashi, seeing him pouting to himself which made Nishinoya feel like he had to try a little harder.

"Bokuto-san would probably want to learn to drive, right?" Nishinoya tried lightening the mood by brining up Bokuto, but that seemed to make Akaashi pout even more. "Flying is cool and easier and faster and all, but cars are good too. They're good for muggles."

"Nishinoya, watch the road, please," Kenma hit Nishinoya on the chest, which Nishinoya responded quickly with by turning around and pretending to drive again. "I'm just saying, Keiji-kun! No need to worry about cars." Nishinoya chuckled, hoping he did something for his friend. 

"Yeah. There are other things we need to worry about," Kenma mumbled under his breath, earning a disapproving tsk from Nishinoya. "Quit being such a sulky shitbrain."  
"I'm just saying," Kenma said dully, closing his Gameboy when he finished his most recent level, looking out the window of the car and letting out a big sigh. "There are other things we need to worry about besides whether Bokuto-san can drive a car or not."

Professor Takeda's car has probably only ever been to the other school and Hogwarts because it didn't seem to know any other destination. 

And can Nishinoya be the first to say that when they were describing the school back when Asahi snuck out to come back to Hogwarts, he didn't expect the school to look this shitty.

"It looks like it's gonna break any time soon," Kenma observed quietly to himself, opening the car door and stepping out, Nishinoya doing the same and looking up at the sad, gross building.   
All he could think about was how Asahi was sleeping on the floor with other boys, and that was enough to make him even more angry.

"How do we get in?" Akaashi asked out loud, but they were all thinking about it. The place the car parked, again acting like it's done this many times before, behind a large shrub of bushes and trees, covering it up. Once Akaashi was out of the car as well, like on command it turned invisible, making the three of them flinch in shock, but were grateful anyway because they wouldn't have thought about it.

"How do we even know where they are?" Kenma added on the question, but was quickly answered when there was a crash from one of the windows and a loud scream.

"BOKUTO, I'M TELLING YOU THIS FOR THE LAST TIME! DON'T. TOUCH. MY. STUFF!"

Nishinoya and Kenma looked back at a smiling Akaashi before beginning to walk forward towards the building, of course being as quiet and sleuth-likel as possible. Which was...surprisingly easy. There were no magic charms they had to break through, no supervision that they had to hid from, not even a rustle in the trees that could startle them and make them freeze like their lives depended on it.

Nishinoya and them got in easy. _Too_ easy, might he add.

"That window," Akaashi whispered, pointing up to the third from the bottom, hearing another crash from it. "Sugawara-san was the one screaming, wasn't it?" Nishinoya asked, Akaashi nodding with a hum. "I'm assuming Bokuto-san was touching something of his?" Kenma snorted, taking his wand out and pointing it up to the window, whispering a spell.

" _Dissendium_." The window opened slowly, making all the noise, from the room and from them, stopping immediately. 

And almost as quickly, a bright red tuff of hair was sticking out, looking down at them with a spreading smile on their face.

"Ah!" Tendou screeched, looking back into the room then back down at Nishinoya, Kenma and Akaashi who were stopped in their tracks, staring up at the Slytherin, unsure what they were supposed to do now.

"No way! Come up, come up!" Tendou opened the window wider and left it for them. Nishinoya was the first one to jump up, not wanting to waste anymore time.

"AKAASHI!"

Bokuto raced to Akaashi with wide arms, jumping on him, the Ravenclaw couldn't help but laugh and hug tightly back, kissing him on the cheek sweetly. Then there was Kuroo and Kenma who had their quiet reunion in the corner.

"Noya-san!" Hinata was jumping towards Nishinoya, giving him a big hug which Nishinoya quickly responded with an equally tight hug. "Is Kageyama with you?" Nishinoya let go, ruffling Hinata's head a little too hard, but understood why Hinata asked. He hated the look of heartbreak when Nishinoya gave the disappointing news that Kageyama wasn't there with them this time.

"YUU!" Nishinoya turned around, his eyes wide when he saw the familiar figure running towards him, their arms wide and pummelling Nishinoya to the ground with a thud.

"RYUU!" Nishinoya screamed back, putting Tanaka into a headlock, laughing loudly when he was reunited with his best friend. "Ryuu, you piece of shit! Come'ere," Tanaka was laughing as well, hitting Nishinoya's face, the two of them getting into a fight that everyone knew was just messing around so they didn't get involved or try to stop them.

"Shouldn't we be more quiet?" Akaashi asked in concern, looking up at Bokuto. "We shouldn't get caught, right?""Eh," Kuroo scoffed with a shrug. "I'd rather we get caught at this point. Not much more they could do to us."

Nishinoya and Tanaka stopped fighting, sitting up properly and looking up at Kuroo. His eyes went to the door, noticing how it was wide open, showing a grey wall that was picking paint.

"Ryuu, how've you been?" Nishinoya asked, Tanaka chuckling coldly to himself and gritting his teeth. "You know. Hanging in there," Tanaka shrugged. "Uhm, what the fuck happened to your hair?" Nishinoya scowled, turning to glare at Kenma but it seemed that he was too busy with Kuroo that he didn't even notice the death looks he was giving him. Stupid.

"It was a birthday present," Nishinoya ended up saying, facing his attention back to Tanaka but Tanaka was looking up at Sugawara, shifting a bit where he stood then looked back down to the ground. Nishinoya also turned around, initially just greeting Sugawara, but he saw that there was more that needed to be said than just a simple 'hi'.

"The purebloods are given special treatment," Sugawara filled Nishinoya in, his arms crossed as he sat cross legged next to them, a sour smile on his face. "But there's more to it than that. How long are you guys going to stay here?"  
"As long as we need," Akaashi answered aggressively, letting go of Bokuto and sitting with them, Bokuto following and sitting behind Akaashi. "We have to fix this. No one deserves to stay in a place like this. Not any student from Hogwarts, anyway.""I dunno, give Oikawa a few days here and maybe he'll humble himself," Tendou hummed quietly, Iwaizumi throwing a book on Tendou for the comment. "I was just joking, IwaIwa. Don't worry, I know this experience will definitely make him a better person."

Sugawara continued explaining to Nishinoya, Akaashi and Kenma what the deal was with the school, how Iwaizumi, Tanaka, Yaku and every suspicious pure blood was being taken extra car of, but there was something in the food that made them mildly forget about the conversations they just had. Apparently Iwaizumi has been refusing a lot of the food lately, but the most successful one was Futakuchi who hasn't eaten anything from the Minister since the beginning of the stay there. The Minister knew he would remember everything though, so he hasn't asked Futakuchi to do anything yet.   
And apparently Iwaizumi could tell the future?

"I can't tell the future!" Iwaizumi barked when Tendou told the whole group, throwing a pillow at him aggressively. "I'm telling you, I'm a fluke! None of my predictions haven't come true-""IwaIwa can read the stars!" Tendou went on, ignoring Iwaizumi completely, telling everyone in the room about how Iwaizumi can actually see things in the foggy crystal ball in Divination class.

"Anyway," Sugawara stopped Tendou as he continued explaining their situation. "This is happening. And I'm starting to run out of ideas..." Sugawara bit his lip, showing clear concern about what was happening to the muggle born students.

"If this is happening here," Akaashi said softly, voicing out more opinions than his own. "I wonder what's actually happening out there. Where the actual muggles are."

No one else agreed out loud, but everyone in their minds were thinking the same thing. This was a problem much bigger than their own, it wasn't about the lack of food or the shitty treatment.  
In all, it was about prejudice and injustice. Which was a much bigger scale than Nishinoya would ever be on, Kenma, Kuroo even Akaashi. This was something that needed more than a bunch childish impulsive decisions. They all had to think.

"Ah, where's Asahi-san?" Nishinoya felt guilty for not asking sooner, but catching up with Tanaka was a lot of fun. "Oh? He's in the other room with his sister," Kuroo told him, walking Nishinoya to the door and pointing to the room next to them. "Knock first. I think his sister is still there with him."

Stomach knotted and throat closed up, Nishinoya was staring at the door, not even bothering to look left and right to see if anyone was about to catch him. Let them catch him, he'd put up a fight anyway.

"Asahi-san?" 

Nishinoya knocked on the door put was too impatient and just opened it. His heart jumped out of his chest when he saw Asahi there, braiding his sister's hair, freezing in place when his door suddenly burst open. Eyes wide, Asahi dropped his sister's braid, standing up and facing Nishinoya. Nishinoya couldn't help but laugh when he saw Asahi's eyes watering. Did Asahi even notice Nishinoya's hair was half white now?

"What're you crying for? Your boyfriend's here-!" Asahi ran over to Nishinoya, pulling him in for a hug, lifting him from the ground and spinning him around, Nishinoya laughed harder, wrapping his arms around Asahi's neck as well.

"I knew you were coming! I knew it!" Asahi exclaimed excitedly, kissing Nishinoya's cheek multiple times. "I'm so happy to see you. You don't even know-""I do know!" Nishinoya whined, Asahi stopping the spinning so he could finally look at Nishinoya. 

"I do know. That's why I came."

Asahi's face turned pink, but he didn't let go, instead just placing Nishinoya back on the floor and leaning down to give him a sweet kiss on the forehead, the both of them smiling like idiots but it wasn't like they could stop. Nishinoya felt his heart pumping from both the adrenaline and the fact that he was seeing Asahi properly again after almost a month of being Asahi-deprived.

"I'm gonna get you out of here," Nishinoya whispered softly, cupping Asahi's cheek and making him lean down more. "Come back with me tonight. Come back to Hogwarts with us."

Nishinoya didn't ask Akaashi or Kenma if that was okay, it was more of a suggestion Nishinoya thought on the spot. And sure, he wasn't thinking about anyone else, but this was _Asahi_ we were talking about. Nishinoya couldn't think about anything else now that he had Asahi here in his arms, and why would he want to?

"Noya-kun," Asahi's hushed tone shook, chuckling lightly. "You know I can't do that."

Nishinoya furrowed his eyebrows, looking up at Asahi in the eyes. "Why not? You just have to follow me out. We have a car but it's fine, Akaashi's the one who's-" Like it was timed, Nishinoya could see behind Asahi his sister, fumbling with the end of her braid that Asahi was working on until Nishinoya interrupted them, her face as serious as the day he met her and pretending she was invisible to let her brother and his boyfriend have their moment.

Annoyingly enough, Nishinoya understood why Asahi couldn't just leave.

"Sorry," Nishinoya muttered, loosening his grip on Asahi, shaking his head. "It-It was a stupid suggestion. I shouldn't have-""No! No, no, no, it wasn't stupid. It's just that," Asahi shrugged, nodding his head, not at Osahi, but at the door behind Nishinoya.

"If I go, then what'll happen to everyone else? It can't just be me." Nishinoya's eyes widened, then softened, nodding his head in understanding and leaning up to give Asahi a quick kiss on the lips.

"God, I miss you so much," Nishinoya breathed out, closing his eyes for a moment but opened them quickly again because he wanted to memorize everything about Asahi. He wouldn't see him again till Halloween, and until then he would be too busy worrying about Asahi.

Now that Nishinoya had time to take in the room, he realized how dirty and empty it was. Was this where they were really staying? It looked like a big prison cell. A whole house was staying in here? That was...worse.

"Remember. Whomping Willow on Halloween," Nishinoya reminded Asahi, looking at the time and trying not to think about how they had to back at Hogwarts before professor Takeda, or any of the supervisors in the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Tower noticed that there was a lack of students. And professor Takeda might possibly notice that his car was missing.

"What's happening though?" Asahi asked quickly, looking at the time as well. They might have set up curfews for them and had some sort of strict schedule. "What are we doing?""Keiji-kun is working on that," Nishinoya reassured Asahi, but that was just a coverup for 'I have no fucking clue either, just remember to come'.

"Nishinoya," Kenma hissed from the door, coming from nowhere, but startling both Nishinoya and Asahi the same. "Come on! We have to go." Kenma looked behind him, waving his hand for Nishinoya to come already.

"The Minister is on his way!"

Nishinoya's gulped, nodding and letting go of Asahi, but Asahi had a tight hold on his hand. Nishinoya smiled sweetly at Asahi, kissing his hand and letting go of Asahi firmly, but not without kissing his hand a few more times.

"We're gonna get you out of here," Nishinoya promised, hating how Asahi's eyes were watering. His heart broke knowing that they had to wait a little longer, but there was no helping it. 

This problem was bigger than them.

"I love you, Noya-kun!" Asahi said earnestly, making Nishinoya freeze. Kenma had to take his hand and pull him harder. "Come _on_ , Nishinoya," Kenma hissed urgently, but Nishinoya couldn't keep his eyes off of Asahi. How could he? When Asahi looked at him like he that, not wanting Nishinoya to leave, suffering in his tight, cold room, sleeping with 70 other people cramping him, his sister having a hard time beside him and having to take care of her too.

All because Asahi's mom was a muggle.

"I'll get you out of here," Nishinoya promised once more, firmly, much more determined with an intense look in his eyes. "You're going to get out of here. And the world will be different. I promise."


	31. Oikawa

Date : October 20 1997

Time : 8:49 PM

Current Location : Slytherin Dormitory

Mission : When Iwa-chan comes back let's make sure he never leaves again - Minister of Magic willing or not.

"You sure this'll work?" Oikawa asked, touching his face which was covered in a thick, pasty green goop, now drying and becoming hard on Oikawa's face. "It'll make my skin smooth and pretty?"  
"Yea, yea," Atsumu waved his hand, laying on Oikawa's bed while reading the weekly issue of ' _Wizard Teen Magazine_ ', the sports section of course. "I use it at least once a week. Makes my face all baby butt smooth." Oikawa nodded his head in acknowledgment, looking at his reflection in one of the decorative silverware in the room, humming to himself.

"And it'll be effective before Halloween, right?"  
"Tsk," Atsumu huffed, slamming his magazine down and glaring at the back of Oikawa's head. "I said it'll work, didn't I?""Okay, don't need to scream at me." Oikawa flopped down on the bed next to Atsumu - a 5th year that was not on the regular Slytherin Quidditch team, but instead was one of teacher assistants for Flying classes and actually helped with Defence Against the Dark Arts for professor Ukai - Oikawa sighed loudly and touched his face again.

"Yer gonna ruin it if ya keep touchin' it," Atsumu warned Oikawa, making Oikawa stop touching his face mask, leaning in to Atsumu's magazine and reading it with him.

"Is this this week's?"  
"Ya," Atsumu flipped the page, not even bothering to ask if Oikawa was done reading whatever section it was he was on. "Ye know the latest Quidditch team took out the mudbloods? Now they lookin' for new members.""Is that so?" Oikawa hummed, not knowing that something like that was a problem, but he assumed that perhaps that wasn't surprising or anything.

Muggle borns were always discriminated against. It's just how it was.

"I think we can wash it off now," Atsumu said, putting the magazine down and getting up, him and Oikawa going to the nearest bathroom and washing their mud masks off. 

"Do we have to put anything on after?" Oikawa asked, waiting for Atsumu to dry his face before Atsumu nodded, leading Oikawa to his dorm and giving Oikawa a bottle of moisturizer. 

"Slap it on your face," Atsumu instructed, showing Oikawa by taking a dollop of moisturizer and putting it on his face, smearing it everywhere before smacking his face lightly and patting the moisturizer in, humming happily at the refreshed feeling.

"See? I'm glowin' now, aren't I?" Atsumu said cheekily, letting Oikawa try his moisturizer as well. Oikawa did put it on, mimicking Atsumu before looking in one of Atsumu's mirror and smiling at the result.

He was glowing. It felt nice to pamper himself like this once in a while.

"Wow," Oikawa kept looking at himself in the mirror, not being able to look away. "Where did you get this anyway?""Ah, ya know," Atsumu shrugged, putting his moisturizer and mud mask away under his bed. 

"When Omi-kun likes somethin', I find a way."

Oikawa raised an eyebrow at Atsumu and cocked his head a bit. "You got it for Sakusa-kun?" Atsumu shook his head, also rubbing his face to make sure the moisturizer really got in.   
"Nah, nah," Atsumu answered, shaking his head. "Omi-kun likes it when I'm clean and everything. So I gotta take care 'f myself and stuff, ye know? Make sure it ain't a question when he sees even ma face that I'm all squeaky clean."

Oikawa hummed, not really thinking that's how it worked, but didn't question it. He got a free face mask that night, so he didn't want to question his suppliers actions. "Well, as long as it works for you, I guess."

Over the past few weeks, maybe ever since Iwaizumi came to visit Oikawa, Oikawa hasn't been worrying his pretty little head over something so trivial as a small separation between what was ultimately mudbloods and purebloods. Iwaizumi's parents reassured Oikawa that he was a big boy and could handle this, and even though Oikawa had a difficult time, he eventually came to peace with the decision.   
After all, it was for the safety of the wizarding world as we know it.

"Ya heard from Iwaizumi-san?" Atsumu asked, him and Oikawa sitting in his dorm together since Oikawa couldn't stop looking at how bright and pretty his face turned out.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Oikawa answered with a cheerful smile. Even though Iwaizumi didn't respond to the first few letters, the surprise visit was all he needed and all of a sudden Iwaizumi was writing to him again. "He's doing great, he said. With the Minister of Magic and everything. I can't believe I thought this separation was gonna make us drift apart. Really, I think it'll just make Iwa-chan just how much he loves me!"

Honestly, nowadays Oikawa's mood could never be better.

"Watch where you're going, shithead!"

The regular scream from Nishinoya every morning got Oikawa's eyes to lift up just a millimetre more, and that was all the millimetre he needed to be fully wakened up for the day.

"Sorry, couldn't see you from down there," Oikawa chuckled, his Slytherin friends laughing with him as they watched Nishinoya pass by. To his surprise, today the Gryffindor didn't fight back. No spell or charm or threat. Just a disgruntled huff and a scurry down the hallway, Oikawa assumed that today just wasn't Nishinoya's day.

At first, Oikawa didn't want to fight with Nishinoya. Iwaizumi warned him that Nishinoya was a powerful wizard and that pushing his buttons wasn't a safe move. But Oikawa knew that already - he watched Nishinoya defeat a fucking dementor and he was only in his 4th year, developing a patronus even as an adult was considered impressive.  
So yes, Oikawa knew just how powerful Nishinoya was.

What Oikawa wanted to see was if he could match up to that.

"'E's really got somethin' on ya, doesn't 'e?" Atsumu commented, startling Oikawa when he suddenly came up but calmed down and nodded when he found out it was just Atsumu who joined the group.

"Yeah, I guess," Oikawa grinned, watching the little Gryffindor run off to class, turning around to face back to his own group of 'friends' and walk with them to their classes. Oikawa right now had History, a boring class really, but one he took because Iwaizumi took it - and of course Oikawa would take it if Iwaizumi did too.

"Today, we're going to be looking at wizards in Medieval Times," professor CuthbertBinns, the ghost professor of History, announced in a lulling voice that was already putting Oikawa to sleep. "Be warned," his monotone tune continued on, "for this is a very tear-jerking chapter. Now, who would like to read?"

After no one volunteered, professor CuthbertBinns ended up reading all the passages, successfully making every student in the class laze out and fall asleep to the sweet, boring sound of 'Wizards Being Cut Throated By A Stake Since 1650".

Well, every student except one.

"1678..." Oikawa had the luxury of sitting near a know-it-all, hardworking student that couldn't read in his head for some reason, and every class he did this without fail.  
"...every....wolf....wizard...midnight." Sighing, Oikawa turned around, his eyes screaming uninterested as he watched the quill zooming over the parchment and writing over and over and over, sentences that Oikawa wasn't going to bother to try and read. All he knew was that those notes would get any student 100s, not matter how dumb they were.

"Sawamura-kun," Oikawa called out sweetly, making Daichi stop writing and look up at him. "In your head. Please." Daichi flushed embarrassedly and nodded, bowing in apology but Oikawa just gave him a fake smile.

It wasn't that Daichi was a bad person or anything, and Oikawa didn't necessarily hate him. But he was the captain of his opposing Quidditch team, and a Gryffindor. Need say more?

Even though Oikawa asked nicely for Daichi to talk in his head, the scratching of quill to parchment made Oikawa's eye twitch, turning around again, sighing at the hardworking Daichi. Did he not see everyone else literally taking a nap during class? Daichi didn't have to be on top of his game all the time, did he? Literally half the class was gone, eliminating half of the competition - Daichi would be headboy. No one was trying to take his title.

"Can you maybe, I don't know," Oikawa chuckled, leaning into Daichi's desk, making Daichi lean back. "Write quieter too. Maybe not at all, if possible." Daichi was clearly shocked at the request, eyes widening slightly, and of course that was enough to make Oikawa smirk and nod in approval even though Daichi didn't guarantee anything.

"Thank you."

Oikawa turned back around, a few of the other Slytherins snickering at Daichi then facing the front of the class again. Oikawa rested his head on the desk, closing his eyes and trying to take a nap again as well when he finally had some peace and quiet, no smartass behind him writing like the world depended on it. 

"Sir!" Daichi's voice boomed in the room, Oikawa snapping his eyes open and sitting up straight. Was class over already? "Sir," Daichi said again, standing up and getting the attention of everyone in the class now, even Oikawa who turned around just to watch the commotion Daichi was making, which by the way was hardly a 'commotion' considering how dead the class was already.

"Sir, I would like you to talk about muggles in wizard history. Please," Daichi requested, making everyone in the class murmur and whisper to each other. All Oikawa did was raise his eyebrows in amusement, knowing why Daichi asked, but wanted to see how it would end.

"But that's not the unit we're on," professor CuthbertBinns responded, making Oikawa chuckle and turn back around, the ghost teacher looking both confused and annoyed. "Please, Sawamura, sit down."  
"I know it's not in the unit," Daichi didn't back down, making Oikawa tsk. Couldn't a guy take a nap in peace?

"But I think it's really important we learn. Especially since Muggle Studies was taken out of the curriculum, so," Daichi cleared his throat, probably nervous with all the eyes on him, shooting death glares. No one actually wanted to study History, they took the class to get a credit. Daichi looked like a total big nerd, kissass right now - and no one liked a kissass.

"Very well then," professor CuthbertBinns gave a short nod, putting the current textbook down and rummaging through his desk, taking out a ' _Muggle Studies : Year 6_ ' textbook out. "Sawamura, would you like to read the first paragraph then? Since you seem so eager about it."

Daichi gulped dryly, nodding his head and starting to walk to the front of the class, but the professor stopped him. "Where do you think you're going, Sawamura?" Daichi froze where he was, definitely catching Oikawa's attention again when all of a sudden a professor was being irritated with goody-two-shoes Sawamura Daichi. It was as if a lion stopped roaring, or a bird stopped flying.   
A rare, rare sighting indeed, how could Oikawa not watch?

"I-I need the textbook," Daichi answered nervously, quietly. Oikawa never heard the confident leader so timid before. "Ah," professor CuthbertBinns hummed sarcastically, putting the textbook down.

"You don't _have_ the textbook, Sawamura? But you were so eager to get into it." 

Oikawa could see Daichi clenching his fists, but all Oikawa did was roll his eyes, turning his head and planting his cheek on the desk. How boring. Daichi didn't even put up a big fight. What was the point of starting something if you weren't going to finish it?

Even if your pride was worthless, stand by it. Even if you lose, keep going.

"Sit down, Sawamura," professor CuthbertBinns said with a firm, but soft voice. Oikawa found it kind of funny how at last one student was interested about something in History class, but CuthbertBinns just shut him down completely. Sad, but funny. Oikawa wished he had his eyes open to see the look on Daichi's face, but he was already half asleep.

"Now. Let's continue the lesson, shall we?"

It was hard being pretty, Oikawa had to admit. Maintaining his face and figure all the time, having to constantly check up on himself to make sure the realistically unattainable face of his was constant. Oikawa liked being pretty though, so it didn't matter.

The most annoying part of being pretty though wasn't having to check on himself 24/7, believe it or not. No, it wasn't the high maintenance life Oikawa had to live in order to stay pretty.

"Oikawa-san!" Short. Slytherin. Blonde. Skinny. "Please-Please accept this!" White envelope. Pink heart sticker. Sprayed rose perfume. "I've been admiring you for so long, so-so please consider me!" Bowing. Shaking. Nervous.

Could she get any more basic than this?

"Oh, is that so?" Oikawa giggled shyly, taking the letter and bowing to her. It was rude when you don't accept confessions - and not accepting a confession from a Slytherin? Death sentence. Oikawa didn't like the trouble of rejecting and didn't appreciate the rumours about him spread afterwords. He could handle things like 'arrogant' and 'full of himself'. But Oikawa was a gentleman at the end of the day.

"Thank you," Oikawa pretended to be fascinated by the letter, looking at all of it, touching it gently then smiling brightly at the girl. What was her name again? "I apologize, but I have to get going to Quidditch practice now. I hope we can meet again in the near future." The blonde Slytherin girl squealed softly to herself, nodding and bowing to Oikawa once more as she watched him leave the hallway, waving to him then telling all her little friends about what a nice boy Oikawa was and how she might actually have a shot.

Once Oikawa passed a garbage bin he threw the letter straight in.

"Another confession, hm? I'm jealous!" Daishou Suguru - a fellow 6th year Slytherin that was filling in positions for the Quidditch team - approached Oikawa, smirking up at him in envy. "You really like wheeling girls in, don't ya?"

Oikawa narrowed his eyes at Daishou, flicking his forehead before he continued walking onto the Quidditch field. "Maybe if you weren't as creepy you'd understand what 'wheeling girls' feels like." With the way Daishou tsk'ed, Oikawa had a feeling he wouldn't be bothered for the rest of Quidditch practice.

Oikawa wasn't sure why, but no one really knew Iwaizumi and him were dating. Or maybe they didn't notice? They were with each other all the time before they dated, so to see them glued at the hip this year wasn't anything odd. And to be fair, Iwaizumi didn't shout from the rooftops that Oikawa was his boyfriend and was sure to make Oikawa as modest as him. So news didn't spread fast or anything, and it might not be obvious until Oikawa or Iwaizumi said it from their own mouths.

"Oi, oi, oi," Nishinoya growled from the other side of the Quidditch field, zooming forward and face Oikawa head on again. Sighing, Oikawa looked down at him. 

"Gryffindors booked the field today," Nishinoya spat out, making Oikawa scrunch his face up in disinterest. "Get off." The Slytherins behind Oikawa snickered and laughed, Oikawa looking behind Nishinoya and seeing their team a little bit lacking, whether Daichi prepared to get more members or the fact that they just didn't have any, he wasn't sure.

But the Slytherin team was complete. It had seven members. They could play a full game.

"Nishinoya!" Daichi screamed from the other side of the field, also making his way to where the Slytherins - and Nishinoya - were. "Quit. Fighting." Daichi scolded, pushing Nishinoya's head down, Oikawa raising his eyebrow in amusement when Nishinoya didn't fight back. Where has Daichi been every time Nishinoya picked a fight with him?

"Sorry. Our team isn't all here yet-""But we are," Oikawa cut him off, motioning to his complete Slytherin team - Oikawa, Goshiki, Tsukishima, Atsumu, Shirabu, Daishou and Kunimi - standing there cockily and waiting for the field to be cleared. "Maybe you should teach your team punctuality. It'd help them a little bit when it comes to winning."  
"I'll show you what winning looks like," Nishinoya huffed, jumping at Oikawa and making him flinch, but Daichi caught the back of his collar and pulled him back before Nishinoya could do any damage.

"You're right," Daichi said, but his teeth were clenched and jaw stiff, clearly not liking how he had to admit that. "We should have all been here on time." Oikawa smirked, liking the sound of 'you're right' when it was directed at him.

"However," Daichi let go of Nishinoya, looking at Oikawa with an intense glare that the Slytherin Quidditch captain did not enjoy receiving. "It should be your responsibility as the captain to book the field. Or else it'll be unfair to the team who has already booked it. Maybe you should teach your team liability," Daichi crossed his arms, puffing his chest out. 

"Before you become a liability yourself."

This was why Oikawa hated Gryffindors. So confident over nothing, bravery for trivial things. There was too much going on, so obnoxious and in your face. If Daichi screamed Gryffindor, then Nishinoya amplified it to the moon and back. Why was it that Oikawa hated the look on Nishinoya's face more than the one on Daichi's? They both looked so proud of themselves.

"How about we split the field?" A surprised suggestion from Tsukishima came out suddenly, the 4th year walking to the front and facing both Daichi and Nishinoya. "We've done it before. And the Gryffindor team isn't even complete yet, so," Tsukishima shrugged, and Oikawa could have sworn Tsukishima looked past Nishinoya and at someone else on the Gryffindor team.

"Let's just split it. It's not like we're playing an actual game or anything."

Oikawa and Daichi both looked at each other, then to their teams. Oikawa got a few shrugs and hesitant nods, and that ended up being enough for him to nod his own head at Daichi, smirk not leaving his face for a moment.

"Alright then," Oikawa held out a hand, Daichi didn't even flinch when he shook Oikawa's. "Let's split the field."

It turned out Daichi wasn't lying and the Gryffindor team did have a full seven members, they were just late. But Oikawa wasn't even paying attention and focused on his team only.

It wasn't ideal to share a field when you were practising Quidditch. You didn't want other teams to see your tricks and plans, or give away some secret move that you were planning to use on your next game. But Oikawa, he saw this as an opportunity to really give the other team a scare for what would happen in their next game, how they would crush Gryffindor and end the school year with the House Cup.

Especially now that Oikawa knew Daichi was only prepared with his original team and now had to teach a whole other set of people. Oikawa was smart enough to always have 'bench players' ever since he was the Quidditch captain. People told him it was a waste of time, that Oikawa shouldn't have to waste his breath on training extra players.  
But Daichi must really want some bench players now considering how he needed to start from scratch once again.

"Good turn, Goshiki-kun!" Oikawa praised, making Goshiki beam up and nod firmly. "Tsukishima, nice catch! A little faster next time though. A Seeker always needs to be on point!" Tsukishima nodded, panting, but trying harder for the next throw Atsumu tossed him, zooming his broom even sharper to get the fake Snitch in a much faster pace. "Good work! Ah, Kunimi!" Oikawa scolded, flying over to Kunimi who was chatting with someone else on the Gryffindor team, pulling him by the collar back to the Slytherin side of the field. "Get to work! I didn't put you on the team just so you can socialize." He heard Kunimi's sassy 'che' but he went back to the Slytherin side anyway, flying with the the other chasers where he belonged.

"Ah, really," Oikawa smiled proudly at his team, though it wasn't the regular line up he was happy. He trained every player, bench or start lineup, like they were going to play for the world.  
That was how much Oikawa loved his team.

"Watch out!"

Out of nowhere - or maybe not really out of nowhere - a quaffle hit Oikawa right on the back of the head. The hit was hard enough it made Oikawa almost fall off his broom, but he was fast enough to catch himself, turning around to see who exactly threw the quaffle.

Of course, why was Nishinoya smirking so proudly? 

"Piece of-" Oikawa scoffed, not even finishing the sentence before he flew over to the Gryffindor side of the Quidditch field, his eyes glaring at Nishinoya but his mouth in an oddly curved smile. Nishinoya didn't move, puffing his chest out like Daichi, confidently ready to face Oikawa.  
Was this finally Oikawa's last straw?

"What was that for, Nishinoya- _kun_?" Nishinoya's jaw clenched, gripping his broom a little harder as he looked up at Oikawa through his white bangs. "Oh? I must have missed." Nishinoya's voice was stiff, lightening basically piercing through the sky as he talked to Oikawa.

"My aim was to knock you off your broom."

Oikawa didn't even take his wand out, he just threw his hands at Nishinoya's neck, strangling him for a brief moment before Nishinoya threw his arms up as well, hitting Oikawa in the face. Before they knew it they were fighting on their brooms, Tsukishima coming over to try and pull Oikawa back, Kageyama trying to stop Nishinoya. It was no use though, Oikawa and Nishinoya were too good at fighting each other.

What was the benefit of this? No one was gaining anything. Oikawa just wanted to see if he could beat Nishinoya, he wanted to see if he could make the boy tip, make him falter.  
He wanted to earn the right of saying he defeated the great 'One-Man-Army' Nishinoya Yuu.

"You turd head!"  
"You slug-eating man whore!"

Nishinoya could've blasted Oikawa off into an oblivion long ago with how Oikawa treated him. So how come he hasn't yet? Did he think Oikawa couldn't handle it? Because Oikawa could - and he would beat Nishinoya before he had time to regret it.

"Again, you two," headmaster Akaashi groaned, slamming papers down onto his desk, showing both Nishinoya and Oikawa letters that were going to their parents. "Honestly, the only reason why I haven't set up some sort of counselling yet is because this school is already going through enough. We don't need any more feuds at this school. We're already divided enough as it is."

Oikawa crossed a leg over the other, his arms folded on his knee as he waited for this scolding to be done with as well. It was usually the same thing, 'you two again' and 'don't do this. It's not benefiting anyone'. Of   
Of course it wasn't benefiting anyone. Benefiting people wasn't Oikawa's goal.

"Sorry, headmaster," Nishinoya grumbled, his grip on the arm of the chair tight. "We will try our best not to-""I don't want empty promises," the headmaster sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. Maybe it was because Nishinoya was friends with the headmaster's son, but Oikawa didn't feel as bad when he thought about causing trouble for headmaster Akaashi.

Headmaster Akaashi was the reason why Iwaizumi wasn't the one next to him right now.

"Please, you two," headmaster Akaashi softly begged, taking deep breaths as he looked between Oikawa and Nishinoya. "If detentions really aren't working then we have no other choice but to up the punishments."

Both Oikawa and Nishinoya looked a little too eager about that, not necessarily because they _wanted_ to get suspended, but because they knew suspension led to a chance to move to the other school. And Oikawa could be with Iwaizumi again, both of them sent away but at least they'd be sent away together.

"Expulsion."

Oikawa and Nishinoya left the office, a little gloomier, parents notice in their hands and walking the same hall they always did whenever they wounded up back in the headmaster's office after a nasty fight. This time they didn't have marks or anything so Oikawa wasn't able to count the damage. All he knew was now Nishinoya was a little more anxious now that expulsion was on the table.

"Oh please, quit it with that," Oikawa scoffed, watching Nishinoya biting his thumb. Nishinoya didn't hesitate glaring up at Oikawa again, stomping forward and trying to threaten Oikawa (it never worked).  
"Quit it with _what_ exactly?"  
"With that!" Oikawa laughed, making Nishinoya even more confused. "You're stressing over nothing. We're not actually going to get expelled." 

For some reason, perhaps Oikawa's tone or how he said it, it pissed Nishinoya off even more and he shoved Oikawa against the wall, a move Oikawa was not expecting.  
"O-Oi-""You think this is a joke?" Nishinoya hissed, but Oikawa didn't fight back, raising an eyebrow down at Nishinoya and waiting for him to finish. "You think that it's fine that we've nearly blown the school up thousands of times and we still haven't gotten punished properly? You're telling me you haven't noticed _once_ that we're just going about our regular detentions when we literally almost kill each other every day?"

No, Oikawa hasn't noticed. Not until now, at least.

"You don't even know," Nishinoya laughed sarcastically, throwing his head back in revelation, and now Oikawa was a little more annoyed and a little more etched by the way Nishinoya was acting.  
He had the cockiness of Oikawa but still the spirit of a Gryffindor. Not pleasant at all.

"You don't even know," Nishinoya said again before pushing Oikawa's chest, pinning him against the wall properly with a firm hand. Was Nishinoya always this strong? 

"You don't even know how the muggle borns are being treated over at the other school. Do you? You don't know where they're staying or what they're eat-""What."

Oikawa froze at first, not sure what the treatment of muggle borns was supposed to do with him. Until it clicked in his head that in order for Nishinoya to know the state of the other school, the state of the muggle borns, he would have had to _visit_ the school.  
Still, if Iwaizumi was a pureblood then he should be fine at least, shouldn't he?

"You've _seen_ where they're staying?" Oikawa asked the question, his voice as hard as a rock as he took Nishinoya's wrist and pulled his hand off of his chest, stepping forward and with every step forward Nishinoya took a step back. 

"You _know_ where they're staying?" Each question asked with through his gritted teeth, Oikawa waited till the moment Nishinoya's back was pressed against the wall, Oikawa not letting go of his wrist. For good measure, Oikawa took his wand out as well, aiming it at Nishinoya's neck and looking down at him through hooded eyes. Nishinoya looked shocked, but determined not to be looked down on by Oikawa.

"Tell me," Oikawa demanded harshly. "Tell me where they are if you know what's good for you-" Nishinoya spit right in Oikawa's face, grinning at Oikawa's initial shock.

"That's disgusting."  
"So's your face but you're still showing it off to the world, aren't you?" Nishinoya scowled, pushing Oikawa off of him, and Oikawa let him go. He rubbed and dusted himself off, Oikawa doing the same as he glanced at Nishinoya.

"Tell me where they're staying. You don't need to take me there." Oikawa hated how Nishinoya laughed in his face. 

"I wasn't even going to tell you in the first place," Nishinoya huffed, giving Oikawa the finger before running down the hall like a lunatic, Oikawa didn't even bother chasing him. "That's what an ass like you deserves after treating Keiji-kun like garbage!"

Oikawa wasn't worried about not being told the location right away though. Because if someone like Nishinoya could find out where Iwaizumi was staying, then there wasn't any doubt someone as cunning as Oikawa could too.

Pureblood. Good looking. Slytherin. Oikawa was born this way, so one could say that he was born lucky. Naturally on the top of the food chain, always able to get what he wanted at the snap of his fingers, materialistic things of course, not always emotionally. Oikawa had a lot of things that just came to him naturally - his face that he was born with, his status that his parents offered him, his boyfriend that he grew up with.   
All in all, it was natural to be envious of Oikawa.

That's what people told Oikawa, at least.

"Yahaba-kun, have you seen my co-" Oikawa's eyes widened when he walked into a weirdly passionate makeout session between Yahaba and some other Hogwarts student, right on the table of the Slytherin common room. Since it was lunch time, no one was there right now but it was Yahaba's turn to watch the house elves clean the Slytherin common room so Oikawa was expecting him there.  
He just wasn't expecting Yahaba's 'friend' to be there with him too.

"Oh," Oikawa said slowly, watching as Yahaba lazily let go, giving Oikawa a lopsided smile. "Hello, Oikawa-san," Yahaba greeted, giving Oikawa a small bow. "What did you say?"

Clearing his throat, Oikawa shook his head, waving his hand and turning around so he could leave. "No, no, it's nothing," Oikawa coughed awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt. "I'll find it myself. Don't worry about it."

Oikawa didn't wait for Yahaba to apologize (he doubted he would've anyway) leaving the common room with a deep breath. To makeout with Iwaizumi right now, Oikawa would give anything at this point. But being the mature, composed, patient man Oikawa promised Iwaizumi he would be, he didn't get too greedy by wanting more.  
Besides, after Iwaizumi's surprise visit a few weeks ago, Oikawa was sure he was just getting a teaser of how romantic Iwaizumi could really be.

"Muggle borns are not being treated fairly! Muggle borns deserve justice! Educate yourselves now!"

That same annoying voice. Oikawa swore it was following him around, even in his sleep. When he turned his head, no one else but Nishinoya was there, booming his loud yelling through the hallways and getting everyone's attention without needing an amplifying spell or anything. Nishinoya had a table set up and flyers in his hand, passing them to everyone who walked by him, even if he had to shove it in their face.

"Muggle borns are not being treated fairly! Taking muggle studies out of the curriculum was a mistake!" Nishinoya shoved a flyer in a poor 1st year's face, making them take it before pushing them on their way.

This oddly felt like déjà vu. Oikawa couldn't figure out what was missing though.

"Haven't you done this before?" Oikawa asked obnoxiously, walking down the steps of the Slytherin tower, and definitely making a show of it. "When the separation first happened. You did this, didn't you?"

Nishinoya huffed, sticking his nose in the air and turning his head away as he gave more flyers to some passing by students like some sort of advertisement. Oikawa still didn't have the address of the other school, so he didn't pick a fight with Nishinoya so quickly. 

"I'll help you with this," Oikawa offered, going to the table and standing behind it with Nishinoya, Nishinoya clearly shocked and trying to push him out. "He-Hey!""I'll get people's attention. I'll give out...whatever the hell these things are," Oikawa said, flapping around Nishinoya's flyers in his face, not even bothering to read them out and see what they said.

" _If_ you tell me where the other school is."

Nishinoya scoffed in disbelief, blinking a few times as if to ask Oikawa if he was serious, but not a trace of Oikawa's face showed that he was joking. He was completely serious about the exchange.

"Oh? And you think it's so-o-o-o easy to just get people's attention-""Hi there! Sorry to interrupt you ladies, but is it okay if I have a bit of your time?" Oikawa grinned at a group of Hufflepuff girls walking down the hallway, flashing a bright smile and winking at them which was enough to make them squeal and nod, standing right where they were and letting Oikawa show the flyer.

"My friend here is standing up for muggle injustice. I wanted to know if you lovely ladies would like to know more about it? You seem quite smart and probably know a lot about how they've been treated unfairly ever since the 'Hunt' that started in the late 1800s, causing over thousands of casualties and deaths in the muggle population. I mean, how drastic, right?" Oikawa gave a sweet look to them that made them swoon, one of them taking the flyer willingly and nodding enthusiastically. 

"That's so caring of you!" One of the girls exclaimed, Oikawa shaking his head modestly and bowing. "I just want to protect and look after our fellow muggle borns. With this...separation and all. You know?" The girls nodded, giggling to themselves as they left the table. Oikawa turned to see a very red and annoyed Nishinoya, who probably hasn't had a very willing person listening to him the whole time he had his little table set up.

"So?" Oikawa raised an eyebrow at Nishinoya, taking a stack of flyers. "Do we have a deal?"

Nishinoya bit the inside of his cheek, huffing in defeat and nodding his head begrudgingly, also taking a stack of flyers. "Fine." He said curtly, probably about to state all of his conditions but before he could Oikawa snapped his fingers in remembrance, pointing to Nishinoya.

"I knew it! You _are_ missing something!" Oikawa exclaimed happily, the itch in his mind scratched. "Tanaka-kun! You're missing Tanaka-kun!"

Oikawa could tell he surprised Nishinoya with his knowledge of muggle injustice every time he gave out a flyer and told people different nuggets of knowledge before sending them on their way.

"Muggle borns weren't allowed to buy a wand on their own until the early 1900s. They weren't allowed to 'taint' the store."  
"Hogwarts didn't accept muggle born students so easily until the 1985 when headmaster Akaashi passed a Bill saying that all wizards and witches should be allowed to study at Hogwarts freely. Before that, muggle students had to take an impossible examination, and if you were fully muggle born then you didn't even have a chance."  
"Pureblooded wizards are 89% more likely to land a job in the wizarding world than a muggle born based on their blood status. Really, the statistics were recorded, latest being held in 1995 by the International Law of Magic."

By the end of the day Oikawa was pooped out and Nishinoya was as well, after echoing Oikawa's words as he handed out the flyers himself. By the end of the day almost all of them were gone and Nishinoya was very pleased.

"Not bad," Nishinoya hummed, giving Oikawa a bottle of cold pumpkin juice. "Is this safe?" Oikawa asked, raising an eyebrow at Nishinoya, Nishinoya rolling his eyes but nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, I don't know how to make anything poisonous, don't worry."

Oikawa took the drink, too thirsty and throat too dry to really care, plus, he didn't think Nishinoya would ever go as far as actually poisoning Oikawa. Maybe a little prank 'Truth Potion' but not poison.

"How do you know so much about muggle injustice?" Nishinoya asked, taking a seat next to Oikawa and sipping on his own pumpkin juice, not looking at Oikawa though.  
"Why? Impressed?"  
"Just answer my damn question," Nishinoya growled, lightly kicking Oikawa's thigh, but Oikawa could dare say it was a _playful_ kick. The older chuckled, shaking his head a bit.

"When you sit in front of Sawamura Daichi for 3 years in a row in all of your classes, you pick a thing up or two," Oikawa was too busy taking a gulp of his pumpkin juice that he couldn't see if Nishinoya laughed or not. By the shrugging of his shoulders, he could guess Nishinoya was holding in a fit of laughter.

"Ah, I see," Nishinoya nodded his head slowly, sighing as he looked at the stain-glass window, a picture of the sun and the moon colliding together to make this weird purple colour that reflected rather prettily in the sunlight.

"And you did nothing about it?"

Oikawa felt the bubbling in his chest, the same feeling he always had when he was accused for something, whether he deserved it or not. Usually it was Iwaizumi calling him out - when Oikawa stopped acknowledging Tobio, when Oikawa tried making the Amortentia and jeopardized their spot in Hogwarts, when Oikawa started pushing around Akaashi for the transfer.  
Has there been a time he was called out by someone other than Iwaizumi?

"You really had all this knowledge about muggle injustice and decided to sit there and do nothing."

There has been. By Nishinoya. 

"Look," Oikawa sighed, sitting up from the wall and turning to face Nishinoya, and this time Nishinoya looked at him too. His bangs were white now, for a reason Oikawa couldn't tell you, but they were surprisingly growing out well. Nishinoya's short stature didn't stop at standing, it was obvious Oikawa was much bigger than him even when they were sitting down, but Nishinoya's determined face never left. It was the same face Nishinoya had before a game, before a fight, before going to the headmaster's office.  
His pride never shut down. Oikawa could resonate with that.

"Muggle borns and muggles...they're not apart of my life, you know?" Oikawa said nonchalantly, obviously pissing Nishinoya off, but he didn't counter an argument so Oikawa kept going. "I don't bother knowing about them, they don't bother knowing about me. Why would I waste my breath and precious time fighting for something that I don't benefit from?" Oikawa asked rhetorically, and at first Nishinoya couldn't respond. He could practically hear the gears turning in Nishinoya's head, trying to think of a comeback, but Oikawa felt like he won this round. So he slouched back down against the wall, drinking his pumpkin juice.

"What about Bokuto-san?"

Oikawa stilled for a moment, looking down at his pumpkin juice that was now half finished. Now that he thought about it, this was the first civilized conversation he was having with Nishinoya. No screaming, no spells - just talking.

"And Kuroo-san? You're friends with them, aren't you?"  
"No, no, you see, that's different," Oikawa chuckled nervously, knowing where Nishinoya was going with this and he did not want to cross over to that territory. "We haven't been friends for a long time. I literally started talking to them last year?""So?" Nishinoya countered, not looking angry, but genuinely curious. Which was a new look on Nishinoya for Oikawa.

"Friendships aren't about the time you know them. Quality over quantity...or something like that."

With an exasperated sigh, Oikawa in the back of his mind - the very, very, _very_ back - had to admit that Nishinoya was right. But Oikawa wasn't too sure, Iwaizumi was the only real friend he had and they've known each other for, well, forever.  
Other than Iwaizumi, was there someone else that Oikawa would go to help for?

Kuroo, he went to for tutoring, but that didn't count, did it? He just knew Kuroo was smart and needed that smartness for himself. Bokuto...he helped with the birthday party and all, but Bokuto was the life of the party. How could Oikawa not call him over? Then there was Nishinoya - they weren't friends. But Oikawa did like to fight with him, and at the end of the day, he didn't want him dead or anything.

Oikawa didn't know a lot about people even though he was good with them. How were you supposed to calculate a friendship anyway? When did you know you were friends with someone?

"Why do you like attacking me all the time?" Nishinoya asked softly, not looking Oikawa in the eye again and looking straight forward. Oikawa couldn't help but laugh at the question.

"What?"  
"You heard me," Nishinoya laughed as well. "Why do you like to attack me? I mean, it's fine and all, I know I'll beat you," Oikawa hit him lightly on the arm for that, "but, I dunno," Nishinoya shrugged, playing with the the rim of his bottle, poking his tongue out from the side of his mouth.

"We can be friends."

In the end, Oikawa completely forgot to ask Nishinoya for the address of the school and instead ended up helping Nishinoya for the rest of the week handing out flyers.


	32. Daichi

Date : October 25 1997

Time : 1:14 PM

Current Location : Headmaster Akaashi's Office (No, Daichi's not in trouble. Just making a phone call)

Mission : Sugawara can handle himself, so let's focus on the Gryffindors left at Hogwarts. And the Slytherins that were bothering them.

"Oh? And has Bokuto stopped touching your sharpener ever since then?"  
" _Yeah, but I can tell by the way he looks at them he still wants to,_ " Sugawara sighed, but Daichi couldn't help but laugh at Sugawara's stories of how silly things were over at the other school.

Of course, through Sugawara's letters and phone calls, there was much more Daichi could cipher out, but he still liked to entertain himself with the funny stories Sugawara had to offer.

" _Semi knows absolutely nothing about the muggle world. Don't even know how he ended up here,_ " Sugawara snorted, Daichi had a feeling Sugawara actually looked down at Semi for that - or maybe he found it hard to believe that Semi even passed for a half blood with the little knowledge he had.  
"Well, the same thing for Bokuto, right?"  
" _But at least Bokuto had 11 years of only being muggle, not knowing a thing about magic,_ " Sugawara explained, but Daichi just liked to listen to his voice. " _So he gets a pass_."  
"Wow. So just because Semi doesn't know as much means that you don't look at him as a 'real muggle'?" Daichi asked, though his tone was sarcastic just to show Sugawara he was joking.  
But Sugawara didn't laugh.

" _Depends,_ " Sugawara answered softly, his voice making Daichi's heart melt. " _How many spells do I need to learn before I can call myself a 'real' wizard?_ "

This was how Sugawara did it their first phone call and his first letter, subtly sliding in the way Sugawara's views have been 'changing' and his self image as a wizard being conflicted. Sugawara would say small conflicted statements, things like 'am I really a wizard?' or 'maybe I deserve to just be a muggle', all on different spectrums of extremity and in a different way each time. At first, Daichi didn't catch it. He really thought Sugawara didn't believe that he was actually meant to be a wizard.

Then Daichi really thought about it. _Sugawara_ was doubting himself. Sugawara, the same student who studied harder than anyone else just to spite them and prove that muggle borns could be amazing wizards, and that their blood line meant nothing. That Sugawara, doubting himself? Something was obviously up.

"Don't say that," Daichi hummed softly, feeling the smile on Sugawara's face from the other side of the phone once he knew Daichi got the message. "Knowing spells doesn't make you a wizard."  
" _Then what does?_ " Sugawara giggled, obviously liking their little game of 'secret language' they had, and Daichi couldn't help but enjoy it as well.

"Hm? Mmm, maybe...a wand?"  
" _Daichi-kun!_ " The two of them laughed and all of a sudden everything was right with the world. The separation never happened, the world wasn't going to end. Sugawara and Daichi were two regular teenagers, just having a normal relationship.

"I miss you, Suga," Daichi mumbled softly into the phone, covering his mouth with his hand as if someone was going to hear him. "So much." He didn't know why he was so quiet about it. Sugawara could easily yell it from the rooftops, but Daichi liked it to act as if it was a little secret between the two of them, only wanting Sugawara to hear those words from him.

" _I miss you too, Daichi-kun._ "  
"How much?" Sugawara giggled, Daichi could practically imagine the bright smile on Sugawara's face right now. To see it in person again, Daichi would easily give away anything he owned. But a patient man Daichi was, so he would wait until they saw each other properly again and not be too greedy right now. Besides, Sugawara was waiting too, wasn't he?

" _So, so, so much. When I see you again, I don't think I'll ever let you go._ "

Daichi didn't know clearly what was happening with Sugawara and the other muggle born students. But with the way Sugawara was treated in the Slytherin house, he could take a wild guess.

Of course, there was also a day when Nishinoya wildly ran up to Daichi, screaming about how the muggle born school was crazy and that it made Asahi curse and wasn't feeding him properly. After calming Nishionya down (as much as a Nishinoya could calm down, at least) Daichi learned that 1) there really was something wrong with the school of theirs and 2) Asahi does have a wild side.

Then there was the day Akaashi came after him, basically interrogating him and demanding he get some sort of memory of Sugawara being tormented and bullied. Daichi wasn't sure if he was glad or upset that there were no memories found. That day though, that night too when Tsukishima admitted he actually found out where the school was, it was enough confirmation and Daichi was able to visualize clearly what this school was like.

And although Daichi didn't like imagining it, he knew what he had to do.

"Kageyama? Wake up, kid, you're gonna be late for your phone call with Hinata," Daichi shook Kageyama lightly, trying to get him to get up or else Kageyama would through a huge fit later (Daichi has experienced dealing with that one too many times). Kageyama groaned, shifting around in bed, throwing a pillow over his head, but Daichi wasn't having it.

"Kageyama. Come on, Hinata's waiting for you," Daichi said with a little more urgency, shaking Kageyama harder. "You don't want to make him upset, do you?" Grumbling, Kageyama finally took the pillow off of himself and sighed, nodding slowly as he sat up on the bed, yawning big as he scratched the back of his head. Daichi understood it was Saturday, but there was a limit to sleeping in, wasn't there?

"Alrighty," Daichi helped Kageyama up, brushing his hair with his fingers and pushing Kageyama to the bathroom. "Wash your face and brush your teeth. Your phone call slot is coming up." Kageyama hummed something, waving his hand at Daichi which made Daichi pinch Kageyama on his side.

"Ow!" Kageyama yelped, jumping from the sink and holding up a hand at Daichi. "What was that for?""Be finished in the bathroom quickly. 5 minutes. Or else you'll really lose your place for your phone call."

It was hard on everyone, the divide they've experienced. But pretty much everyone lost someone, so Daichi couldn't sulk either. He was the backbone - not to brag or anything - of the Gryffindor house. He knew this, people voted him to be it. Even if it was just the Gryffindor house, he needed to make sure everyone was going through this separation as smoothly as possible.

That is, until he found out more about this other school Sugawara was staying at.

"Daichi-san," Kageyama yawned, stepping out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth and washing his face, still visibly sleepy but he wouldn't let Kageyama go back to sleep until he at least went for his phone call.

"You really..." Daichi sighed, walking over to Kageyama and ruffling his hair. "You've been sleeping in a lot lately. It's not good for you, you know?" Daichi scolded, but Kageyama didn't scowl like his regular reaction. Instead, he just nodded. Daichi raised an eyebrow at him, about to ask Kageyama if he was feeling okay but Kageyama was already answering his question with a loud sigh.

"I can't watch the sunrise without Hinata," Kageyama said softly, rubbing his eyes, walking out to the common room so he could make his way to headmaster Akaashi's office. Daichi didn't walk with him all the way.

"It's not the same."

Never, not once, not even for a brief moment did Daichi ever think he would find Oikawa Tooru himself in the Gryffindor common room seated next to Nishinoya Yuu. To top it all off, helping him with his Potions homework.

But life was filled with crazy things, wasn't it?

"Why does it turn blue?"  
"I dunno. Why do clouds form? Why does the sun set? It just does."

As a precaution, Daichi went up to them, wanting to first of all make sure Nishinoya wasn't sick with anything to make him ask Oikawa for help, or alternatively, Oikawa wasn't blackmailing Nishinoya for something and acting like a good guy by helping him with his Potions homework. Then again, what would the two benefit from each other? It was really taking Daichi on a mental rollercoaster just looking at the two acting all civilized like that.  
It was almost as shocking as when Daichi saw Kageyama and Tsukishima eating meals together.

"Noya-kun?" Daichi called out warily, making both Nishinoya and Oikawa look up at him. "Oh, Daichi-san!" Nishinoya greeted back excitedly, waving to Daichi like all was right in the world. "Did you need something?"

Daichi kept looking back and forth from Oikawa to Nishinoya, not sure how to ask how the two of them ended up hanging out together, but it seemed like his face asked enough because Oikawa sighed loudly and rolled his eyes.

"What?" He gritted out coldly to Daichi. "I'm not allowed to help out with homework? You want me to formally introduce myself too while I'm at it, asking for your permission?" This time Daichi rolled his eyes, noting that Oikawa's sassiness never left and he was still the same Oikawa, just with Nishinoya cooperating with him for some reason.   
Daichi had to admit, it was really weird that it's been over 3 minutes of Oikawa and Nishinoya in the same room as him and not once did he have to stop Nishinoya from taking his wand out.

"This is just...a weird thing to see," Daichi admitted with a chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. "I mean...last week! You guys almost killed each other! Twice!""Circumstances change, Sawamura-kun," Oikawa waved his hand at Daichi, brushing him off like the fact Oikawa used a _bondage_ charm on Nishinoya just a few days ago never happened. 

"Yeah! Oikawa-san has been helping me with my flyers all week!"  
"' _San_ '?" This time, Daichi laughed, pressing his hands on the table they were doing their homework on, shaking his head even more. "Wh-What about Akaashi? Or-Or Kenma! Where are they right now?"  
"Saturday school," Nishinoya pouted, resting his chin on the desk and sighing. "Trust me. Oikawa -san wouldn't be my first choice either.""Oi," Oikawa cut in, kicking Nishinoya under the table and glaring at him. "I came here on my own time, you ungrateful shit."

Daichi could see the difference though. They were still insulting each other, still physically attacking each other, but now it was more...playful? Odd, so odd, but Daichi couldn't help but feel...proud. Like Nishinoya finally realized how to set aside differences and could branch out his circle of friends to Slytherins. Maybe now, Nishinoya wouldn't think all Slytherins were bad.

"Wait-" Daichi coughed, interrupting the discussion between the two of them again. "Wait, Noya, you said what? Handing out flyers?" Nishinoya's eyes went wide in remembrance that Daichi specifically said _not_ to do that. It seemed Nishinoya forgot - or rather, he forgot to not mention it to Daichi.

"Ah, well, I changed them!" Nishinoya defended himself quickly, Daichi's eyes piercing through Nishinoya's skull. "I-I mean, they don't say 'muggle' anymore! I mean, they do say muggle, but this time they say 'muggle born'! I promise, I changed them." Nishinoya even had one in his pocket, folded up but still giving it to Daichi who snatched it out of Nishinoya's hand.   
And like Nishinoya said, he did change the text of it.

**_Muggle Born Students Being Treated Unfarely! Bring Them Justis!_ **

"You spelled 'unfairly' and 'justice' wrong," Daichi pointed out, giving the flyer back to Nishinoya before walking away, leaving the two of them so Nishinoya could actually get homework done. He could hear the two of them arguing behind him as Daichi went to the stairs, wanting to lay down after a long day that ended off on a really weird note.

"Why didn't you tell me I had a spelling mistake?!"  
"Eh...I guess I didn't see it? I was too busy carrying the whole operation. You should give me a back massage for that, by the way."

_October 24/97_

_Daichi-kun,_

_I miss you a lot! Our phone call is tomorrow so I could imagine that this letter will come a few days after. I'll still miss you though, even after hearing your voice lots of times. I hope we have a fun conversation tomorrow!_

_How is it over there at Hogwarts? I want to see lots of the other students as well even though it's Daichi-kun I want to see the most! Even the Slytherins who weren't the nicest to me over the years because of where I'm from, it would be nice to see at least a few of them and remember the good old times of them stuffing snakes into my bed sheets.  
Good times indeed._

_Over here, we're good as well! Tendou has been sick the past few days, and even though we have his medicine it's still difficult to handle him. But since the Lunar Eclipse is coming, he definitely wants to go out and see that. Perhaps that will heal his sickness? I sure hope so, sick Tendou is not my favourite Tendou. Daichi-kun, I just realized - I've never had to handle you when you were sick! I would take care of you though, so don't worry!_

_Speaking of the Lunar Eclipse, it's coming up on Halloween! I'm so excited to see you again. Hopefully you didn't get even more good looking - that would be bad for my heart for sure... No girls have been hitting on you while I was gone, right? Tell me honestly or else I'll really show you what kind of wizard I can be! Hah, don't worry, that was a joke...I think._

_Anyway, the Gryffindors are doing well too. Kuroo takes good care of them and is basically doing what you told him to do before we left. Hinata is doing most of his homework, Lev found three stray cats this past week (Kuroo told him he wasn't allowed to take any more in though, so you can cap it at three), Tanaka broke a few vases in the Minister's office, but I think they were mostly accidents. Did you know Terushima is smart? I've been tutoring him this whole time, but apparently he takes classes grades above him? Kuroo apparently meant that he sent Terushima to me so he could help me tutor Bokuto, but I thought I was tutoring the both of them this whole time..._

_I think the Slytherins don't really care how we're doing over here though, Daichi-kun, but thank you for telling me! The ones who do care have been sending mail to Semi-kun though, so not to worry! Perhaps they don't think it's worth it sending letters to a mudblood._

_I think I have to stop writing now, Daichi-kun. I hope you stay healthy and expect my arrival for Halloween. I'll dress up in something exciting, so make sure you do too! It'll be interesting to see you in something other than your school uniform._

_Lots of Love,_

_Sugawara Koushi_

"Is it normal for students to see the Minister of Magic?" Daichi asked whoever it was in front of him for breakfast that morning - and this time it was Suzumeda Kaori, a Gryffindor 6th year who enjoyed eating just as much as the next food junkie - looking up from his letter from Sugawara and watching Suzumeda stuffing her face with beef and rice.

"Hm?" She rose her eyebrows, indicating that she heard nothing of Daichi's question. "Would the Minister of Magic want to meet with Tanaka-kun," Daichi rephrased the question, looking over the letter again, and even though there were parts that made his heart beat faster, he couldn't help but focus on a few certain lines. Tanaka meeting the Minister of Magic...Daichi couldn't picture it.

"I don't think a regular professor wants to meet Tanaka-kun," Suzumeda chuckled after she swallowed her food, Daichi laughing along since he knew Suzumeda took the whole thing as a joke, but Daichi needed a real answer.   
Suzumeda's answer though, was along the lines of what Daichi was thinking.

"Mm, Sawamura-kun, you gotta eat something. Before the food disappears," Suzumeda encouraged Daichi, telling him to put the letter down already. Daichi couldn't help it though. Whenever he got a letter from Sugawara he always over analyzed it, wanting to find hidden parts in it, indicating more about the school Sugawara was at. Each time, Daichi would find something new and that would get him more curious and asking even more questions.

"Sorry," Daichi mumbled, putting the letter away and going back to his food, taking a big bite just to make Suzumeda stop telling him to eat. "There. Happy?" Suzumeda playfully flicked Daichi on the forehead, the two of them laughing together.

"How's the Halloween planning?" Daichi asked, knowing that Suzumeda was on the planning committee with Kiyoko. Since Halloween was coming up, he decided it would be a good time to ask.

"Very good! Kiyo-chan is a good leader, so it's been very easy to follow her instructions." Daichi nodded slowly, knowing that Kiyoko was also the captain of the Quidditch team before giving the position to Ushijima and becoming professor Ukai's assistant for games and training. "So what things have you got set up already?" Daichi asked.  
"Well, we have the menu. I did that," Suzumeda laughed, Daichi chuckling in response. "Decorations are done. We only have a half day that day now.""I heard you guys are doing a muggle themed Halloween?"  
"Oh yes!" Suzumeda clapped her hands in remembrance, holding her hands on her cheeks. "So we've charmed a lot of the decorations - like, the pumpkins can talk and move. But then we have things like streamers and balloons. They don't do anything, by they way.""Yes, I know what a balloon is."

Suzumeda and Daichi continued discussing the plans for Halloween, Daichi listening closely and trying to figure out when he should drag Sugawara out of the party and have him all to himself.

And of course, make sure he was doing okay. That was the main priority - Sugawara's wellbeing.

Field trips to Hogsmeade were one of Daichi's favourite things for the weekend. They were more fun with Sugawara of course, but he didn't mind spending it with the rest of the Gryffindors and other 6th years.

"I wanna buy candy," Nishinoya said beside Daichi, knowing Daichi kept Nishinoya's money so that he didn't over spend. Daichi also kept Kageyama's money after an incident during Kageyama's 3rd year when they went to Hogsmeade for the first time and Kageyama lost his wallet.

"I need broom wax," Kageyama said with a groan, Daichi knowing Kageyama would much rather buy some sort of annoying toy instead of things that he actually needed, but no one else was going to buy it for him and Hinata wasn't there to spend his own money on stupid shit that Kageyama could toy with him. Thank god for that.

"I think I'm gonna buy a new sweater," Oikawa added himself to the conversation, stretching his arms up in the air to show the inch of shortness his current sweater had on him. "I grew! I need to get bigger clothes now."  
"I'd like to see you grow up too," Kageyama mumbled under his breath, and if Oikawa heard it, he pretended he didn't.

"You spend your money on nonsense," Tsukishima grumbled, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "You have broom wax. It's called 'oil'.""It's not the same!" Kageyama insisted angrily. "Oil will make it slipper and slide-y! I need shine!"

Their little group has gotten bigger - with Slytherins, out of all people! Daichi didn't know if Sugawara would believe him when he came back. Or perhaps Tsukishima and Oikawa were just bored and Gryffindors were easiest to play with.  
Daichi prayed that wasn't the case because he didn't want to witness Kageyama in another awkward lunch break and having to stop Nishinoya from cutting of another Slytherin's head.

"You're just wasting money," Tsukishima shrugged, as if he was warning Kageyama which made Kageyama even more upset, probably because now he really was conflicted about whether or not he should be buying broom wax or he could just use oil like Tsukishima said. 

"But they're different!" Nishinoya agreed, making Kageyama perk up. "Wax makes, like a _gloop_ sort of sound when you slap it. Oil is a _sploosh_.""So _that's_ where you get your stupid sound effects from!" Tsukishima exclaimed, pointing a very accusing finger at Nishinoy. "It's fucking annoying!"

It wasn't Daichi's regular group, no, but Daichi found himself actually having fun at Hogsmeade that day, even though Sugawara wasn't beside him and making him question his purchases. They went to all sorts of different stores, Kageyama ended up buying the broom wax just to spite Tsukishima (though he was questioning himself the whole time) and Nishinoya got a butt load of candy, half of it that wasn't even for him, but for Asahi.

Obviously, everyone was anxious for the upcoming Halloween party.

"Are you dressing up in a costume?" Nishionya asked everyone with wide eyes, fascinated by the concept of 'dressing up' into something outrageous that he couldn't do every day because it wasn't socially acceptable. The idea of conversation came up after Kageyama mentioned he needed help dressing up as a mouse because Hinata told him to.

"So I can dress up as, like, a cloud?" Daichi was surprised that was the craziest thing Nishinoya could think of on the spot. "I mean, I guess?" Kageyama shrugged unsurely. "I don't know. Hinata just told me to get ears and a nose that look like a mouse's."

So the five of them split up, Tsukishima joining Kageyama to find his mouse costume in one of the shops in Hogsmeade while Oikawa stayed with Nishinoya and Daichi, wandering around as well and trying to make the most of their Hogsmeade visit while the still could.

"Daichi-san knows too by the way," Nishinoya commented in the most nonchalant way possible. "About the school. And how they're being treated. Daichi-san, have you been there too yet?""Shh," Daichi scolded, flicking Nishinoya on the forehead, but it was too late. Oikawa's eyes were wide on Daichi and Daichi could feel the swarm of questions about to be asked.

"Sawamura-""I haven't been there," Daichi cut him off before he could ask too much, and probably half of Oikawa's questions were thrown out just by that one fact. Daichi actually hasn't had the luck of successfully sneaking out to actually see the school himself.

"Oh," Oikawa said slowly, looking down at the ground. "Is..uh, is Sugawara writing to you?"

This question caught Daichi off guard, however, not expecting Oikawa to be interested in that much. But slowly, Daichi nodded his head, his eyebrows furrowed in suspicion but he didn't ask why Oikawa wanted to know, just trysting that this information would somehow be useful to him. 

"I see," Oikawa sighed, giving Daichi a tight smile and a nod. "Let's just keep walking! Not a big deal. Well, not for me at least."

Usually, Daichi would be annoyed at how calm Oikawa was now that he knew Oikawa as well was aware of the whole situation going on in the other school, or at least had a glimpse of knowledge thanks to Nishinoya. But there was a way that Oikawa walked, a discomfort on his face and a strain in his voice that made Daichi second guess Oikawa's feelings.

"Iwaizumi-san hasn't written to him once," Nishinoya explained, filling in on Daichi of what he needed to know. Also, the fact Nishinoya even knew this was a small surprise to Daichi as well.

"I guess the two of them could talk it out on Halloween though."

Right. Halloween. That was coming up and Daichi's biggest concern seemed to be him still needing to find a costume.

"No running in the hallway please," Ushijima said gruffly to a few 1st years who were racing each other down to their next class but was stopped midway by prefect Ushijima, his intimidating face only becoming more scary when he held his wand out. "It can become dangerous for someone who wants to walk normally. If you wish to compete, might I suggest a game of chess?" The 1st years awkwardly nodding, walking the rest of the way down to their classroom.

"Wow," Daichi breathed out, walking over to Ushijima and clapping a hand on his back. "You really know how to connect with the youth, don't you Wakatoshi-kun?" Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows confusedly at Daichi.

"But by definition I am a youth too. Of course a person of youth would be able to connect emotionally with another person of youth."  
"You have emotions?" Daichi asked, not even realizing the rhetorical question slipped out before it did. And of course, Ushijima was once again confused. "Of course I have emotions. I am human after all." Daichi nodded with a small smile, patting Ushijima's back. "Yes, yes, I know."

Ushijima and Daichi weren't best friends or anything, but they did spend time together when they could, and right now they were heading over to the library so they could work on their essays together. Even though they weren't in the same class, they still had the same curriculum. 

"Tendou's been writing to you, no?"  
"Mhm," Ushijima nodded his head, flipping through the pages of his textbook as he wrote notes down on his parchment, making a rough draft for his essay. "He forgot his Wolfsbane though. His first night of his full moon must have been terrifying for him."

Daichi's eyes widened, hearing this for the first time. "Wait, what?" Daichi shook his head in disbelief. No Wolfsbane for a werewolf was as dangerous as no leash on a dragon - you didn't know what damage they could do.

"It is alright though," Ushijima blinked, not even looking up at Daichi. "I delivered it to him. He is fine now."

Daichi accidentally knocked down the pot of ink they had to the side of the desk, spilling the black ink all over Ushijima's parchment. "Oh shit, sorry!" Daichi exclaimed, quickly using his wand to undo the action, getting the ink out of Ushijima's paper to make sure his words were still there but the splatters of access ink were gone. The whole situation took him by surprise, Daichi was surprised his hand wasn't shaking when he was doing the spell.

"You-You delivered it?" Daichi repeated, Ushijima simply nodding. "You mean you-you sent an owl, right?" Daichi chuckled nervously, loosening the collar of his robes. "You gave the owl the Wolfsbane and sent it to Tendou. Right?"  
"No," Ushijima said bluntly. "That would be too risky. And Tendou has enough speculation towards him as it is." It still didn't answer Daichi's burning question completely, so he just went out and asked.

"Did you visit their school?"

Ushijima paused, finally looking up at Daichi. His face was unreadable, Daichi wondered what he was thinking about. From what Tendou has described though, it was probably plants and or how many pages of the latest book he was reading had left for him.

"Yes," Ushijima answered without hesitation. "You haven't?"

Scoffing in disbelief, Daichi put a hand to his forehead, feeling the heat rising up all over his face. He couldn't believe it - was he the only one who hasn't sneaked out yet? And no, Oikawa didn't count!

"How-How?!" Daichi exclaimed loudly, being shushed by the librarian, which Daichi wanted to respond with 'hey, I've sucked my boyfriend's dick in here but you didn't seem to even notice then!' but decided to just lower his voice instead.

"How?" Daichi whisper-screamed, looking up at Ushijima intensely. "I mean, you-you just upped and left?""Well," Ushijima opened his mouth then closed it, like he was trying to figure out what to say, which from what Daichi knew, Ushijima didn't do often.

"Tendou can Apparate," Ushijima stated as if that was the obvious notion (by the way, Daichi had _no clue_ Tendou could do that). "So he used his Port Key and I-""Woah, woah, woah!" Daichi stopped Ushijima before he could go further because he really needed him to back up. There was too much information and way more questions Daichi needed answered.

"What Port Key? Who's-Who's Port Key?"  
"...Tendou's," Ushijima said slowly. "Are you...confused?" Daichi let out an exasperated sigh, nodding his head vigorously. "Yes! Yes, I'm confused because-" Daichi groaned in frustration, placing his hands on the table and looking Ushijima desperately.

"Why didn't you _tell_ me?" Daichi finally asked, the question making Ushijima widen his eyes slightly but quickly went back to his stoic expression. "I'm sorry?""Why didn't you tell me," Daichi asked again, knowing Ushijima was thick when it came to social wellbeing, but this had to be too much. Wasn't it common sense to ask Daichi, especially knowing Tendou was close with Sugawara?

"It isn't like I wanted to go," Ushijima said bluntly, seeming to not understand Daichi's frustration. "It was against the rules. But I needed to give Tendou the Wolfsbane or else he would get caught."  
"Still!" Daichi exclaimed, being shushed another time by the librarian. "Still," Daichi lowered his voice again to a whisper. "You could've called me! We could have went together!"

From the look on Ushijima's face it seemed that the thought hasn't once passed Ushijima's mind, not even considering that he should have called Daichi, no more _wanted_ to. It didn't even look like Ushijima was happy he got to see Tendou before Halloween.

"So you know about the school? You know what it looks like, you know how they're being treated?" Daichi asked with urgency, Ushijima nodding his head at every question. He did know everything, and that just made Daichi even more anxious.

"And?" Daichi pushed, wanting to know more. He wanted his suspicions further confirmed, he wanted to know what he needed to do in order to make sure Sugawara was safe. He didn't want him to experience any more discrimination for being a muggle born, and all the signs were pointing that this new school was doing exactly that.  
If Ushijima could give him a little more, on top of Nishinoya's and Kageyama's observations, then maybe Daichi could start planning something now.

"And?" Ushijima repeated, cocking his head a bit to the side. "I gave Tendou the Wolfsbane. Then I went back to Hogwarts. Like I said, it is against the rules to visit each other. So I went back as soon as I could."

Apparently, Ushijima was committed to his position as a prefect and really did leave as soon as possible after giving not Tendou, but _Sugawara_ the Wolfsbane. He saw Sugawara and didn't even mention it to Daichi, not once! How absurd and cruel and just plain dumb of Ushijima!

"I didn't think it was that much of a concern-""Concern? He's my _boyfriend_ , Wakatoshi. This isn't about concern or worry - I just wanted to see him!" Ushijima gulped at Daichi's outrage, obviously the two of them leaving the library to talk about this. Ushijima genuinely looked puzzled when Daichi got upset that Ushijima didn't say anything sooner about the whole 'visiting the school' thing, which pissed Daichi off even more because he couldn't even properly blame Ushijima anymore. But how could Ushijima _not_ know to ask Daichi? Shouldn't it be common sense?

"I apologize," Ushijima bowed at Daichi, his voice sincere but that didn't make Daichi any less upset. "He is in good condition. I can guarantee that as of October 3." Daichi groaned, throwing his hands up and letting out a sigh of defeat. He couldn't stay mad at Ushijima with a reason like this.

"Of course he's fine," Daichi grumbled, crossing his arms and scrunching his face up. "He wouldn't let some petty school like that get to him so easily."

Ushijima nodded his head slowly, eyeing Daichi as if he was waiting for some sort of confirmation that Daichi wasn't mad at him anymore. Daichi couldn't help but snort out a laugh, patting Ushijima on the head, having to reach up since there was a pretty big height difference between them. "I'm fine now, Wakatoshi-kun. You don't have to keep looking at me like that." 

Daichi wasn't fine, but he didn't want to trouble Ushijima and have him thinking about this interaction for too long. It did annoy Daichi that Ushijima got to see Sugawara before he did, but he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it.

"Perhaps..." Ushijima awkwardly brought a hand up and started patting Daichi's head back, a weird action for Ushijima but Daichi didn't stop him. It was probably taking a lot for Ushijima to do this. "Do you feel better now?"

A genuine laugh came out of Daichi's mouth and all of a sudden he felt even more better. The fact that Ushijima even tried to comfort him reassured Daichi of Ushijima's genuine obliviousness, and even though it was annoying, Daichi would take that over sadism any day.

"Let's just, go back to the dorms," Daichi sighed, looking out the window and noticing that it had gotten darker without them even realizing. "We don't want to miss curfew."  
"Actually, I have hall monitoring duty tonight," Ushijima told Daichi. "I will have to depart with you now, Daichi-kun." Ushijima gave Daichi a cute little wave before walking down the rest of the hallway on his own, leaving Daichi to make the turn he needed to get to the Gryffindor Tower. But Daichi's mind couldn't help but wander to the fact that Sugawara was at a school, potentially treating him wrong and Ushijima did nothing to investigate about it.

If Tendou was doing fine though, how much weirder could such a school get?

"-dumbass!"  
"Stay still and maybe it wouldn't hurt as much!" 

Daichi's thoughts quickly vanished when he heard the arguing of two familiar voices, making the final turn to the Gryffindor Tower, his eyebrows lifting when he saw Kageyama and Tsukishima in front of the door, but that wasn't the surprising part.

Tsukishima was clipping on fake mouse ears onto Kageyama's hair and Kageyama's nose was covered in black paint with whiskers on his cheeks. Was that supposed to be Kageyama's mouse costume?

"Evening, Sawamura-san," Tsukishima greeted coolly as he clipped the second ear to Kageyama's head, letting go of a scowling Kageyama with mouse ears. Definitely not the weirdest thing Daichi has seen that week, but it was something.

"Doesn't he look like a mouse or what?" Tsukishima exclaimed in sarcastic excitement, turning Kageyama around for Daichi to see, and even though Kageyama looked rather annoyed by the whole situation, he waited for Daichi's comments. 

"Well?" Kageyama pressed, spreading his arms out. Kageyama was wearing grey sweatpants along with a grey sweater, probably to match with his grey mouse ears, but all Daichi saw was a sad teenage boy that had a weird thing for ears. "Er, well," Daichi coughed with a shrug, walking up the steps towards the Gryffindor Tower door. Was Kageyama expecting a certain reaction?

"You look..." Daichi looked at Kageyama up and down. "Like a mouse?"  
"Perfect!" Kageyama exclaimed proudly, punching Tsukishima in the arm out of excitement. "And here I thought I had to use Transfiguration." Daichi decided not to ask what that even meant because he didn't want to know.

"Both of you should head to your rooms soon," Daichi said, saying the password 'Benign' to the painting that guarded the Gryffindor Tower, opening the door. "It's almost curfew."  
"Tsukishima's sleeping in my dorm tonight," Kageyama walked in before Daichi, not even flinching as he walked in, Tsukishima following him behind. Daichi's jaw dropped when he processed what Kageyama just said, choking on his own spit.

Was it weird that Daichi felt so proud of Kageyama for making a friend?

When Muggle Studies was taken out of the curriculum, Daichi has been doing his very best to stay on top of his muggle knowledge on his own. Which was very hard because all his muggle knowledge came from, well, Sugawara.

And obviously, Sugawara wasn't here.

"I think," Nishinoya was looking in the 5th year edition Muggle Studies textbook that Daichi still had in his drawer from last year, still in good condition because he never had to.   
Sugawara always gave him all the answers.

"This is a blender," Nishinoya said with absolute confidence, pointing to a toaster-oven. "Definitely." Daichi sighed, looking down at the contraption, actually not sure if he should be correcting Nishinoya or not.  
Because Daichi wasn't sure either.

"Uhm, I think," Daichi grumbled, pointing to a photo of an actual blender. "This one is a blender? Because, you know, blenders...blend?" Nishinoya's mouth gaped, nodding his head in enthusiastic agreement, clapping his hands but honestly, Daichi didn't feel like this was something worth celebrating. Sugawara could tell the difference between Billywig sting slime and Bubotuber pus in an instant - Daichi couldn't even name two clearly different inventions with different purposes. 

"Well then what's this?" Nishinoya asked, almost shouting in frustration because that was maybe the fifth photo Nishinoya identified wrong and now he wasn't having it. 

"Come on Noya-kun, calm down."  
"Fine! You read the textbook on your own then," Nishinoya grumbled, deflating himself on the table with a loud groan, ruffling his own hair - that was growing out in an odd pattern, now half white and half black - obviously frustrated with Muggle Studies. Daichi agreed to teach Nishinoya what he was supposed to learn in 5th year Muggle Studies, and since there was no 6th year course Daichi didn't think it would hurt to refresh his memory of what he learned last year.

But it did hurt. His feelings and his pride.

"At least you learned the difference between a telephone and cellphone!" Daichi pointed out in attempts to cheer Nishinoya up, but all it did was make the 5th year grumble a curse under his breath, something about how 'even Kageyama-kun knew the difference'. With a loud sigh, Daichi flipped the pages of his textbook even more, wondering what else Muggle Studies had to offer for 5th years.

Why wasn't Daichi surprised to find a whole section dedicated on muggles hunting magical creatures, wizards and witches.

"Damn," Daichi chuckled coldly, shaking his head when he saw wizards being burned at the stake, apparently without even any sort of trial that could identify whether or not they were actually witches.  
Muggle hunters were really cruel.

"Huh?" Daichi's eyebrows furrowed a bit as he turned the pages more, but the chapter ended. "That's it?" Daichi was surprised that hunting was the only 'historic' part of the Muggle Studies textbook. Perhaps because in their 6th year they learn more about how muggles help in wizarding society? Or would they eventually cover it in History Class?

"They're all like that," a quiet voice behind Daichi came from the Ravenclaw table, some black haired student with a turtle neck that covered his nose and mouth. "Don't get your hopes up." He wasn't even looking at Daichi so it looked like Daichi was just staring at him, so Daichi felt especially creeped out, but yet, those words got to him. All the textbooks were like that? Maybe that was why Sugawara was so insistent that he just told Daichi all of the answers instead of having Daichi figure them out on his own.

"Yeah, but not all muggles are like that," Nishinoya said back, at Daichi, not at the Ravenclaw student. "Just the bad ones."

Daichi inwardly questioned exactly how you were supposed to tell the 'bad ones' from the good ones. And then he ended up thinking about for the rest of the day.

"Nice turn, Kindaichi! Keep up the good work!"

Quidditch practices were much more difficult, that was for sure. Especially with what was ultimately a whole new team Daichi had to gather up, now Daichi was training harder and more often than ever.  
And it was much more work than he would like to admit.

"Noya-kun, nice hit!"  
"Thank you, captain!" Nishinoya saluted to Daichi, the two of them laughing but getting right back to work as usual. Suzumeda was on the team as well as a Chaser, and these days she's been getting much better. Their first game wasn't until November though, so they had plenty of time to sharpen up their skills.

"Kageyama, good catch!" Daichi cheered, Kageyama nodding with a flushed face, panting from how hard he's been flying around, but Daichi knew that these days Kageyama was off of his game a bit despite loving Quidditch with a passion. Daichi didn't need to ask what he could do in order for Kageyama to focus properly because right now, Daichi couldn't give it.

"Oi, oi!" A voice from the other side of the field yelled out, the familiar swarm of green greeting Daichi. Of course, he didn't even hold in an eye roll as Oikawa and his team flew over, but this time there was a different sort of smirk on Oikawa's face.

He was actually greeting Daichi...friendlily?

"Play a game with us," Oikawa demanded, not even asking if Daichi wanted to play but rather forcing him. "We wanna see how good you guys are, considering your lack of familiarity." Oikawa looked behind Daichi and snorted. "This is basically a whole new team!""Says you," Daichi spat back, looking back at Oikawa's team, but boy were they intimidating as fuck. All of them had that same cocky glare, their brooms were all polished and new (polished with broom wax, mind you) and even though they weren't the starting line up, Daichi already knew from just the previous practice the had, they were really good.

Oikawa was a good leader. But Daichi was sure he could be better.

"Just a mock game," Atsumu added on reassuringly, the rest of the Slytherins nodding their heads in agreement. "Win or lose, it won't matter. We're just having a friendly competition."

Daichi snorted, knowing that was never the issue between games or competitions. There was always winners and losers, and there was always the pride you had after you won the game. It wasn't complex.

But there was something different about the Slytherin team. They didn't actually look like they were ready to compete, and there wasn't a condescending aura either like how there usually was when you were in a room with even one Slytherin. It was as if the Hufflepuff team or the Ravenclaw team was asking for a fun game of Quidditch.  
Considering how well Oikawa and Tsukishima have been getting along with the Gryffindors lately, even Kunimi and Goshiki have been a lot more friendly these days, maybe a friendly game wasn't that bad.

"You're. On."

Daichi was surprised that the two teams didn't even remember the score at the end of the game. Instead, the amount of sweat was enough to see which team played the hardest - and Daichi was happy to say it was a tie.


	33. Ushijima

Date : October 29 1997

Time : 4:18 PM

Current Location : The Great Hall

Mission : Orange over, black under, silver through. Orange over, black under, silver through. Continue the pattern till the streamers are done.

"Thank you again, Ushijima-san," Kiyoko said with a grateful yet small smile. Ushijima didn't notice all the jealous looks all the boys were giving him as Kiyoko gave him a bottle of water.

"It's nothing," Ushijima mumbled, but it was something. Tendou was the one who signed him up for helping with the Halloween decorations, telling Ushijima that he needed to socialize more with people out of his house. But it didn't make sense because Kiyoko was in his house too and she was leading the committee. But he did suppose there were a lot of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors involved as well (not that many Slytherins, surprisingly). "Small crafts are my speciality."

Kiyoko chuckled lightly, but Ushijima wasn't joking when he said it. He enjoyed knitting out small trinkets and knick knacks because Tendou liked keeping them to himself. He would even name some of them if Ushijima made them with eyes.

"Ah, anyway," Kiyoko bowed once more to Ushijima. "I need to check on everyone else. I'm relying on you, Ushijima-san," Kiyoko nodded her head before leaving Ushijima alone in the Great Hall with a few other people on the party planning committee, Ushijima's job being to weave a bunch of different coloured streamers and pasting them up. One of the muggle decorations, apparently. 

"Maybe if I had a more straight face like him," Ushijima could hear one of the other committee members whispering loudly to his friends, from the corner of his eye he could see them putting them an overly exaggerated straight face on. Yamamoto was his name, Ushijima remembered briefly, him being one of the louder Gryffindors (all of them were loud though, so that didn't help much, did it?) and clearly one of the ones who wanted Kiyoko's attention.

"No, no, like this," Goshiki chuckled, putting a straight face on as well but wasn't able to hold it for too long and bursted out laughing with the other boys there. Ushijima was sitting alone at the other table, ignoring them completely.  
However, on the other end of the table there was another Ravenclaw sitting there, a turtleneck covering the bottom half of his face as he also started weaving streamers. He was probably just volunteering to help set up like Ushijima did.

"Excuse me. Ushijima-san," Yamamoto called out, making Ushijima turn. The group of boys froze, one of them even gulped, but Ushijima wasn't sure why. He didn't even do anything.

"Oh, uh, we were just wondering how you got Kiyoko-san's attention," Yamamoto chuckled nervously, petting the middle part of his hair that was dyed blond. Ushijima wondered if him and Nishinoya decided to do that blond streak together.

"I don't do anything," Ushijima said honestly, not stopping his weaving even when his eyes were off of the streamers. "I just talk to her."

The group of boys were all impressed 'woah'ing and making other noises that startled Ushijima inwardly. He didn't understand why they were so interested in how Ushijima got Kiyoko's attention, in fact, Ushijima didn't even think he did get her attention. He was just doing his job and she was recognizing him for it. Wasn't that what any good leader would do?

"Try growing taller, Yamamoto-chibi-san!"  
"Oh, sock it, Goshiki!" Yamamoto scowled, kicking Goshiki in the shin, but Goshiki didn't react, sticking his tongue out at Yamamoto. "I'm an average height! It's not my fault you're a fucking tree!" It was sort of true. Only in his 4th year, Goshiki was 175cm and still growing.

"Height has nothing to do with it," Ushijima commented bluntly, his eyes going back to his streamers and weaving accordingly, finishing the decoration off with a pretty bow. 

"Doing your job with integrity is enough. Any good leader will recognize your effort."

Using his wand, Ushijima hung the streamers on the ceiling, making it nice and straight. The group of boys behind him were stunned with Ushijima's 'advice' and only one of them took it to heart.

Even though Ushijima had totally disregarded the interaction in Great Hall, not even remembering it that well as he left when he was done his task, apparently he really got to one of the juniors to the point where he started following him around.

"You're really tall, Ushijima-san!" Goshiki said in excitement, going in Ushijima's direction even though he didn't know where Ushijima was going. "How tall? 175? 178?"  
"180," Ushijima answered gruffly, unsure why Goshiki was so interested. "But I am still in the stages of my life where I am growing. I can potentially be even taller than this."  
"That's awesome!" Goshiki exclaimed in awe, as if being tall were some sort of skill that Ushijima had better than anyone else. But there were people taller than him, like Lev and he was the same age as Goshiki. Did Goshiki follow Lev around like this before?

"My goal is to be 185 before I graduate from Hogwarts!" Goshiki exclaimed, even though Ushijima didn't ask. "I plan to be really tall! Taller than my seniors, you know? Hey, Ushijima-san, can I call you my senior?"  
"Senior for what?" Ushijima asked stiffly. This might be the second time in his life he's encountered a Slytherin so mouthy and enthusiastic - and the first time, he ended up falling in love with them.

"Senior for life!" Goshiki stopped walking, but Ushijima continued on, needing to get back to the Ravenclaw Tower so he could report to Kiyoko. "Wait! Ushijima-san!" Goshiki called out, making Ushijima slow down when he heard Goshiki running after him. "I think you're really cool, you know? I would really like for you to mentor me!"

This made Ushijima finally turn to look at Goshiki, now noticing what Goshiki actually looked like. Ushijima was so close to laughing because even the hair reminded him of when Tendou was in his 1st year and had his bowl cut.  
 _Almost_ laugh though. Ushijima didn't actually let it out.

"Mentor you for what?" Ushijima asked, unsure what Goshiki was asking for, and it seemed like Goshiki didn't know either, shrugging hard. "I mean...I guess..." Goshiki hummed, stroking his chin before snapping and grinning widely at Ushijima.

"I would like to become a prefect! Is that possible?"

Ushijima opened his mouth then closed it, unsure if Goshiki was serious about being a prefect with how impulsive the decision was, but his excited puppy-like eyes plus the lack of people signing up to be a prefect this year due to the lack of students in general pushed something in Ushijima that made him involuntarily nod. He didn't even have time to ask how Goshiki knew he was a prefect when Ushijima was monitoring the Ravenclaw Tower 99% of the time.

"Yes! I won't let you down, Ushijima-san!" Goshiki saluted to him, bowing past 90 degrees and catching Ushijima completely off guard. "I will see you in front of the Ravenclaw Tower tomorrow morning at 8 AM sharp! I can't wait!" Goshiki clapped his hands before running off to the other direction towards his Slytherin Tower, waving off to Ushijima. Ushijima weakly waved back.

Goshiki didn't even give Ushijima time to give him the papers he needed to fill in before becoming a prefect. And didn't Goshiki know he had to do an interview with the headmaster as well?  
Did Goshiki know anything about being a prefect? Ushijima started to wonder if Goshiki only signed up for Ushijima, and then he ended up thinking about ever so often for the rest of the day.

"Sakusa, really, I wiped it all, I promise," Akaashi sighed in desperation, Ushijima walking in to that same Ravenclaw that was with him with the streamer weaving earlier in the Great Hall. Instead of a turtleneck though, he had a thin scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose, his wand held up at Akaashi like he was going to attack.

Naturally, Ushijima stepped in front of Akaashi, holding his wand out at Sakusa but not to attack, rather to defend. "Ushijima-san!" Akaashi exclaimed, Sakusa's eyes widening when he saw Ushijima in front of him now.

Ah. Sakusa. The name made Ushijima realize who he was and now he sort of felt silly for not recognizing him sooner. He was in the same house and everything, it was probably the face covering that threw him off and made Sakusa unrecognizable to him. Or maybe Ushijima just didn't pay enough attention to really relize who he was.

"What is the problem?" Ushijima asked, putting his wand down, Sakusa mirroring him, his eyes still wide. "How come you two were about to duel?"  
"No one's duelling," Kenma said lazily from the sofa, the buttons on his game making loud animatic noises every time he pressed on it. "We need the table for studying and we asked if Sakusa wanted to join. Now he's being a priss."  
"I just want the table clean before we study," Sakusa exclaimed in the calmest way possible, his hand clutching tightly around his wand before he sighed loudly and shook his head.

"I knew it," Sakusa said with an annoyed exhale, turning around after taking his books. "I'll just study on my own." Akaashi tried to stop him, but Sakusa was already rushing up the steps, not turning back. Kenma, of course, looked very indifferent about the situation.

"That was not my fault," Kenma said, closing his Gameboy and giving Akaashi and Ushijima a small nod. "Don't expect me to chase after him. If he wants to study on his own, then let him. Maybe he can clean up his act while he's at it," Kenma hissed softly, seemingly annoyed by Sakusa's attitude but probably wasn't showing it so that it didn't show he cared. To Ushijima's knowledge, it wasn't like they were friends or anything.

"Kenma-""If you want to study with me, I'll be in the library with Nishinoya," Kenma said, not wanting to hear Akaashi's suggestion of what was probably going to Sakusa and asking him again if he wants to study with them. "At least there I don't have to kill tiny organisms I don't even see. Good day, Ushijima-san," Kenma bowed to Ushijima, shrugging off at Akaashi before walking out with his school bag. Ushijima hadn't seen attitude like that come from Kenma before, but perhaps he too was anxious for Halloween that was coming up in just 2 days.

"God," Akaashi groaned, fiddling with his fingers as he looked down at the table he apparently just wiped down. "I really thought we could talk to him this time." Ushijima knew it was a bad idea to just leave Akaashi frustrated there, but he was so tempted to anyway.  
Tendou wouldn't leave him though. That thought alone was enough to make Ushijima at least stay for a little longer.

"Was there something...special about Sakusa?" Akaashi sighed, sitting down at the table and shook his head. Ushijima thought that was a signal for him to leave, but Akaashi kept talking.

"I noticed Kenma was pretty down about not becoming close friends with Kageyama so I thought maybe if I called someone equally as antisocial then he would feel better, but..." Akaashi exhaled in frustration, running both his hands through his hair and shaking his head, clearly bothered by the turnout of his efforts. Ushijima didn't really see the big deal at first.

"Bokuto-san's definitely better at dealing with people than me."

If it were an issue about missing people, then Ushijima was mildly experienced. Not to say he missed Tendou all the time, he understood that it was healthy to be apart from your significant other. But he couldn't lie and say he didn't think about Tendou at all. And every so often, he did wish Tendou came back to him. It wasn't something he was thinking about all the time though.

"Well," Ushijima shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, thinking about what to say in response. "I presume that you are quite adequate at speaking. So you as well are good at, ah, 'dealing with people'."

From Akaashi's face, even Ushijima could tell he did nothing to make him feel better. "What I mean to say is-""It's fine, Ushijima-san," Akaashi chuckled weakly, waving his hand off. "This was my fault anyway. I can fix it."

Ushijima knew that resolving the issue wasn't that simple, but he also knew that sometimes silence was the best medicine, so he left Akaashi alone after that. Unfortunately, due to this setback, Ushijima completely forgot what he came to the common room for and ended up going back to his dorm altogether feeling like he had experienced an incomplete trip.

"I...beat him?"  
"You really don't remember?" Akaashi asked in slight shock, the two of them heading to the Quidditch field together to do some practice, the rest of the Quidditch team coming a little later do to party planning or other various activities that would make them late. Ushijima being the captain, didn't mind having the Quidditch practice at odd times, as long as they got the full 4 hours necessary as a team in order to make them stronger.

"It was when you were in your 2nd year," Akaashi retold in disbelief, but Ushijima still looked confused. "There was only one spot left. You took it from Sakusa by being a faster flyer."  
"But...how is that something worth being cross with me?"  
"Well, you know," Akaashi shrugged, stopping in the middle of the field with Ushijima, mounting his broom. "He probably really wanted to be on the team. And you took that away from him by being bigger and older and better. It's just something that has to do with him, don't think about it too much."

The conversation of Sakusa came up when Ushijima asked Akaashi how his 'friend' was doing, to which Akaashi replied with 'who?'. After various descriptions, finally the 'half covered face' got Akaashi to realize what he was talking about. Then Akaashi said something about how 'Ushijima scared him away' and naturally, Ushijima wasn't sure what that exactly meant since he didn't do anything remotely scary.

Coming to now, Akaashi explaining why Sakusa had such strong feelings towards Ushijima even though Ushijima doesn't even remember them interacting.

"Don't you give him your old textbooks?" Akaashi asked, flying up in the air on his broom, Ushijima following him, bringing the quaffle along with him. Even though Ushijima was a beater, he didn't mind helping Akaashi with Chasing.

"Not directly, but it is possible he has taken my old ones," Ushijima said, squinting his eyes as he thought about it. "I give my old textbooks to all the juniors who take the classes I took. I have no more use for them and they're just a waste of space."

It looked like Akaashi wanted to say something, but he didn't, instead pushing Ushijima's body with all his might, making Ushijima drop the quaffle out of surprise. Akaashi zoomed down, snatching the quaffle mid-air, laughing when he looked up at a surprised Ushijima.

"Never let your opponent take you by surprise, Ushijima-san!"  
"You are not my opponent though," Ushijima said curtly, watching as Akaashi flew back up to his level. "You are my teammate.""But we're practising," Akaashi insisted, throwing the quaffle back at Ushijima, which Ushijima caught skillfully.

"Ushijima-san!" An excited voice called out that was not Akaashi. Ushijima looked down at the ground, trying to see who it was and for some reason, Goshiki was standing there with his broom, a bright smile on his face as he waved up at Ushijima. Before Ushijima could fly down to see what Goshiki wanted, he was already flying up to where Akaashi and Ushijima were.

"Ushijima-san, are you practising? Let me join you!" Goshiki said excitedly, his eyes widening at the both of them. "This isn't your team though-""I won't tell the Slytherins anything, don't worry!"

Akaashi glanced at Ushijima and Ushijima looked back, knowing as a team captain he should be refusing Goshiki as much as possible. "Tendou-san said that you were an amazing Beater! I want to beat you one day!" Goshiki exclaimed with a determined face, making a fist and nodding firmly. "Even though I'm not on the regular starting lineup, this year for sure I will be beating you, Ushijima-san. Just you wait!"

Ushijima didn't know where that came from, but he ended up thinking about how Tendou has probably bragged about Ushijima to a lot of the Slytherins on various different aspects about Ushijima, to which Ushijima had no idea about until Tendou points it out.  
Being a Beater, Ushijima knew he was very skilled, so to see a junior of his so passionate about becoming better, it tugged something in his pride to indulge, just a little.

"Ah," Ushijima said slowly, glancing down to the Quidditch field and noticing another Slytherin down there, Shirabu, Ushijima believes is his name, standing there impatiently like he's waiting for something.

"Don't mind Shirabu-kun! I dragged him here, is all," Goshiki giggled, looking between Akaashi and Ushijima. "So is it okay if I join? It is, isn't it?" Goshiki pressed on, making both Akaashi and Ushijima shift because it wasn't like they wanted to say no...but don't they have people on the Slytherin team that could help Goshiki and Shirabu practice?

"Perhaps..." Ushijima said slowly, nodding once but that was enough to make Goshiki excitedly squeal, calling Shirabu to fly up, the other Slytherin 4th year rolling his eyes as he flew up to Goshiki's level.

"He said he'll help us practice!" Goshiki said, his voice filled with nothing but anticipation and eagerness. "We didn't say any-""Great. Just what I needed." Shirabu completely cut Akaashi off before Akaashi could explain that they weren't going to help both of them practice, but it seemed that Goshiki and Shirabu had other plans, plans that involved mainly Ushijima.

Akaashi sort of got the message, and what was supposed to be the Ravenclaw Quidditch team practice turned into Ushijima's mentoring class for a bunch of bratty Slytherin kids.

" _Goshiki-kun_?" Tendou said through the phone, him and Ushijima having an extra phone call for that week for some reason, apparently since Tendou's parents went on vacation for the Halloween weekend and weren't answering his calls. Ushijima couldn't tell if Tendou was upset by it, but if he was Ushijima didn't know. Tendou still sounded like his cheeky, cheerful self.

" _Oh, Goshiki-kun will do anything to make his seniors happy. Trust me, you should ask him to do something outrageous._ " Tendou said confidently, which definitely should have concerned Ushijima, but instead he was quite interested. Like, what has Tendou made Goshiki do before?

" _Was it Tooru-kun..? Or maybe it was SemiSemi... I can't remember, but either way, one time someone asked Goshiki-kun to clean all the bathrooms on the first floor because that was there detention-ah, Tooru-kun! It was Tooru-kun. Anyway, he told Goshiki-kun to clean all the bathrooms thoroughly because that was Tooru-kun's detention and Goshiki-kun actually did it! Unbelievable, right_?"  
"That is not very responsible on Oikawa's end," Ushijima said bluntly, his eyebrows furrowed down as he imagined not-so-little Goshiki scrubbing the bathrooms excitedly to make a senior happy.

"It is not right to abuse power like that."

There was a silence on the other end, and Ushijima felt a weird shock that Tendou didn't bite back with something sarcastic or cheeky. Usually Tendou would say something that Ushijima would disapprove of, which Tendou would reply with 'I was just joking, Waka-chan'. But the comment never came.

" _Waka-chan, what would you do if one day you woke up and the world hated you?"_

Now, Ushijima was used to Tendou asking him weird questions all the time, that wasn't something new. But Tendou never hesitated before asking. He was always so confident when asking, as if he was so proud of asking, or even like it was a regular question. Just not this time.  
This time, Tendou hesitated.

"What are you asking?"  
" _Ah, never mind. It was a dumb question_."

See, Tendou doesn't do that either. No matter how silly or stupid the question was, he would persist asking it and never apologized for being invasive or maybe even rude, but rather just insist on getting an answer even if it wasn't thought out properly.  
Obviously, this made Ushijima think a little harder .about the question.

"What would the world be hating me for?" Ushijima asked, wanting more details of the question to hopefully get a sense of where Tendou was asking from. "Did I do something to make them hate me?"

There was silence on the other end for a good minute before Tendou finally replied. " _I said never mind, Waka-chan. You don't have to answer_."

Now that it was stuck in Ushijima's mind though, he wanted to think about it properly. Even if Tendou asks him not to, just out of reflex will he start to think and think and think and think.  
Was it like a typical Ravenclaw to overthink like this?

" _What's wrong, Waka-chan? You're really thinking about this now, aren't you_?"

Even without having to answer, Tendou got him and didn't allow Ushijima to respond. " _I'm asking because you know about Suga. And this school is just a reminder so...yeah_." Ushijima nodded even though Tendou couldn't see it. Sort of just out of habit, but also because he was processing what exactly that meant for Tendou and that question.

Because it wasn't like Sugawara was the only one experiencing discrimination because of how he was born.

" _Ah, I think my time is gonna run out soon_ ," Tendou said in a sad tone, Ushijima noting that they've been on the phone for quite a few hours now, he didn't want Tendou getting in any trouble either. Deep down, Ushijima knew Tendou was probably getting in enough trouble as it was.

"Alright then," Ushijima was about to hang up, but waited for Tendou's usual farewell. " _Okay then. Bye Waka-chan. I love you so, so, so, so much! Ah, I'm seeing you soon! I can't wait_."  
"Goodbye, Tendou. I love you as well. I am anticipating your return."

With that, Tendou laughed and Ushijima hung up first. Daichi once recommended that Ushijima did a cute 'you hang up first' bit, but Ushijima didn't understand the logic for that so he decided against. Maybe one day though, Ushijima would try it. If it could make Tendou smile, then Ushijima didn't mind trying it at all. Even just an attempt should be enough.

"The phone call went okay?" Headmaster Akaashi asked with a smile, letting Ushijima leave the office. "How's Tendou-san?""Surviving," Ushijima answered shortly, already steps out of the door before he heard headmaster Akaashi chuckle.

"I like that you're a man of few words, Ushijima-san." The comment made Ushijima stop, turning to look at headmaster Akaashi to see that he wasn't making fun of Ushijima or teasing him. It seemed headmaster Akaashi did appreciate Ushijima's carefulness in word choices. Even though he must have gotten a lot of silence from Akaashi already.

It took everything in Ushijima to not tell headmaster Akaashi that he wanted to apologize for talking _too_ much because of how excited he was after talking to Tendou.

"What would you do if one day you woke up and the world hated you?"

Akaashi and Kenma looked up from their dinner plates, their stare odd at Ushijima when Ushijima didn't look up. "What?" Ushijima stirred his soup, watching the swirls of the broth mix together before dumping a whole bowl of rice into it.

"What would you do if one day you woke up and the world hated you?" Ushijima asked again, finally looking up to see the slightly shocked and confused looks on Akaashi and Kenma's face. He had to admit, it wasn't the most normal question Ushijima's asked before, but it wasn't bizarre either. With who Akaashi and Kenma were dating, they would have had to have heard weirder.

"I mean," Kenma started answering slowly with a shrug. "Did I do something?"  
"I don't know," Ushijima answered bluntly, because Tendou never answered that question either. "I would assume you did not. But I hope you can answer considering both situations."

Akaashi and Kenma took the question into a serious thought process, tapping their fingers on the table and staring off into space. It seemed Ushijima wasn't the only one stuck on it.

"I think it would depend on the situation," Akaashi said this time, Kenma and Ushijima both listening diligently. "If they were to hate me for no reason, I don't think I would care all that much. At all, even."  
"But the world would include Bokuto-san, wouldn't it?" Kenma added in, looking over at Ushijima for confirmation. "The world means everyone. Right?"

Ushijima actually didn't take that into consideration. If the world did mean everyone, and the world hated Ushijima, that would include Tendou, wouldn't it? The thought sent chills down Ushijima's spine, not imagining a world where that could even be possible. Then again, Tendou almost killed Ushijima once so he couldn't exactly say 'impossible'.

"If it includes Bokuto-san though, then I would assume this is a world where I haven't properly met him," Akaashi argued, trying to defend both himself and Bokuto, though his face was trying to hide it. "Then we wouldn't have fallen in love properly. This is a hypothetical situation."  
"Hypothetical it may be, we still have to consider all the factors. If your life is the same except for the fact that everyone on Earth hates you, everyone on Earth includes Bokuto-san. So you meet on the same terms, and maybe you feel the same way, but then he hates you. Wouldn't your response change?"  
"Of course it would change!" Akaashi exclaimed, looking back and forth from Kenma and Ushijima before scoffing in disbelief.

"So if everyone on Earth means every single person on Earth except me, would this include my family?" Akaashi asked, Ushijima having to think about it for a moment because Tendou didn't give him nearly this much detail.

"Let's not count family," Ushijima nodded, finding that condition fair. "They're indifferent about you. But Bokuto-san hates you."  
"Did I still fall in love with Bokuto-san though?"  
"It would depend on you," Kenma answered instead of Ushijima, but Ushijima didn't mind though. It was a made up situation anyway. "Didn't you fall in love with Bokuto-san at first sight?"

Ushijima didn't know the details of Bokuto and Akaashi's love story, only that when everyone found out that the headmaster's son was dating the son of Hunters that it stirred up quite a bit of controversy. It seemed, however, that Akaashi and Bokuto didn't seem to care that much and pursued the relationship anyway. How that relationship has been going until now, Ushijima wasn't sure and didn't care to ask.

"That is true though..." Akaashi mumbled softly to himself, furrowing his eyebrows and staring intensely at the table. "If I know Bokuto-san hated me in the first place, I think that would change my falling in love process as well."  
"So you're saying if you had absolutely no chance with Bokuto-san in the first place, you would force yourself not to fall in love?" Kenma filled in, but it seemed like Akaashi didn't like that answer either.

"No, I don't think that's the case either," Akaashi sighed loudly, shaking his head and looking back at Ushijima. "Where did this question come from anyway?" He asked in frustration, probably because the topic got a bit sensitive when Bokuto was brought into it quite promptly.

"Ah, Tendou asked me it on the phone earlier today and I have not," Ushijima coughed, shaking his head as well and waving his hand in the air. "I have not been able to stop thinking about it so I thought I could ask for a little advice."

Akaashi and Kenma looked at each other before looking at Ushijima again, seemingly unsure if they should be telling Ushijima something. Obviously, Ushijima wasn't able to read minds or anything, but he had an odd hunch it also had something to do with Tendou, whatever it was they were going to say to him and that was the main reason why they were hesitating.

"Ushijima-san. Isn't Tendou-san a half blood?"

Ushijima had to think carefully before answering. Because according to technicalities, Tendou was. Apparently according to Tendou's birth certificate as well, he was a half blood now too.  
But to make sure things were safe for Tendou and the Tendou family, he's been living as a pureblood.

"He is," Ushijima decided on the truth, calculating the chance of Akaashi bringing up this conversation and any topic having to do with Tendou up to his father, and even though it was only roughly 26.476%, it was still a chance and he wasn't going to risk it. "But what does that have to do with this?"

This time, the two of them looked more shocked. "Oh, well, you know. How muggle borns are treated and whatnot," Kenma said, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal but last time Ushijima checked, muggle discrimination has been an ongoing problem for centuries. It was almost rare to find a pureblooded family that would be interested in involving muggle born (full or half) in their lives.

"So Tendou-san, not saying that he's in trouble or anything, but," Akaashi continued on when Ushijima didn't seem to fill in the blank. "Maybe this is what his concern is. Perhaps the separation has been something that has made him feel like muggle born discrimination is an actual problem in real life and that we should be empathizing a whole lot better than what we've been doing up until now."

Ushijima understood where Kenma and Akaashi were coming from, but that shouldn't have been it either, right? Becuase Tendou knew and Tendou has experienced things way worse than being a muggle born. Both the wizarding and the muggle world hated Tendou and his whole species for what they were, even though Tendou hasn't done anything wrong. He was just living.

"Thank you," Ushijima said softly, not wanting to get deeper into the conversation before the truth about Tendou rafted up unintentionally. Even if the chances were low, Ushijima didn't want to live his life on chance, not when it came to Tendou's safety.

"If you'd excuse me. I have an assignment to finish." Ushijima lied as he put his plate to the centre of the table, watching it evaporate in the air. Kenma and Akaashi didn't seem to notice, bowing their heads as they watched Ushijima leave.

Good thing Ushijima didn't have an assignment to finish though, because now he had enough time to overthink Tendou's questions, and now, Akaashi and Kenma's answers.

"Oh fucking shit," a deep voice around the corner huffed out, along with a clang and a crash onto the floor and what sounded like water splashing on the ground. "Great."

Ushijima turned, seeing an upset Sakusa staring down at the ground, a bottle of bleach dropped on the floor and his face covered with a cloth that was tied at the back. His wand was out and in his hand, and now his eyes were on Ushijima, wide in surprise and fluster.

"Wa-Wakatoshi-kun!"  
"You made a mess," Ushijima observed out loud, taking his wand out and starting to put the bleach back in it's bottle. They were in the common room together, the bookcase section of it. Ushijima assumed it was Sakusa's turn to clean it, the Ravenclaw's having an organized way of telling who's turn it was and splitting up the tasks accordingly.

"Are you finished cleaning up?" Ushijima asked, taking the now half full bottle of bleach, the smell lingering but at least there wasn't any mess, getting the cap and screwing it on before handing it over to Sakusa. Stunned, Sakusa didn't take the bottle back at first, gulping when Ushijima walked closer to him. "Sakusa? Are you finished cleaning?"

The second time he asked seemed to get Sakusa's attention, nodding his head slowly but then he changed his answer and shook his head. "No! No, uhm, I was just doing a second cleansing. Kenma told me this, uh, this method with this bottle and I thought I would try it so," Sakusa coughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Ushijima the whole time. "I don't need help. You can go."

Ushijima watched as Sakusa turned, his back now to Ushijima as he wet a towel with bleach and began to wipe down a table with it, scrubbing it as if there was a huge stain on it that he wanted off, but to Ushijima it looked spotless. The conversation Ushijima had with Akaashi about Sakusa the other day started popping in his mind and Ushijima wasn't able to keep the question to himself.

"Sakusa, are you perhaps upset with me because I took your spot on the Quidditch team?"

Sakusa flinched, dropping his bottle of bleach again but since there was a cap on it nothing spilled, luckily. Instead, however, Sakusa whipped his head at Ushijima and glared at him.

"Who told you something like that?" He asked aggressively, throwing his towel on the table and Ushijima just noticed that Sakusa was also wearing rubber gloves. "I just happened to notice you do not take a liking to me that much," Ushijima responded calmly. "Is it because you are upset with me?"

Sakusa's eyes softened, sighing and shaking his head as Ushijima observed Sakusa's actions. Was he annoyed Ushijima asked? More upset that Ushijima even brought it up? Or maybe even relieved that after all this time, Ushijima managed to finally at least notice - Ushijima has learned that sometimes late was better than never.

"I'm not upset with you," Sakusa answered, closing his eyes and taking his mask off, revealing the lower half of his face. "Just...don't think about it too much. I was upset before, obviously, but I'm over it now. I don't need to be on the Quidditch team."

Ushijima watched as Sakusa picked up his bottle of bleach, shaking it a bit before opening the lid and pouring a bit on the floor, then used his wand to swish it around and clean the wooden boards. It seemed that he was avoiding conversation with Ushijima and covered it with cleaning, but Ushijima wanted to resolve the tension between them as quickly as possible. Two people from the same house shouldn't have any problems, especially over something that could be avoided easily through some sort of communication.

"There's a position now though," Ushijima informed Sakusa, getting the 5th year's attention, stopping his cleaning. "Someone dropped out from the team properly, so it's not that the muggle born students are gone. There really is an empty space. So you can try out again this year. I know someone as good as you should be able to get on without any problems."  
"Unless another Wakatoshi-kun comes out and beats me to it again," Sakusa retorted coldly, taking Ushijima by surprise but he didn't show it. "I have no intentions of trying out," Sakusa said bluntly, not looking at Ushijima in the eyes.

"But thank you for offering the opportunity to me again."

Ushijima assumed there wasn't much he could do anymore, so he left it at that, nodding his head and turning to leave Sakusa to his cleaning. Just before he left though, he turned around, opening his mouth to ask his final question before leaving Sakusa at peace.

"How come until now you still have not tried out again? Not even once did you try," Ushijima pointed out, now only slightly curious as to why. "I am sure you are not one to give up easily, Sakusa."

Sakusa stilled for a moment, pulling his cloth mask over his mouth again. When there was silence Ushijima guessed Sakusa didn't want to answer the question so he turned to leave the room again, but then Sakusa cleared his throat, making Ushijima stop and turn back to him.

"You don't notice," Sakusa answered slowly, staring down at the chair he was scrubbing thoroughly with a bleached towel. "But performing in front of Ushijima-san gives me anxiety."

Ushijima wasn't exactly satisfied with the answer, nor did he understand it that well but it was better than what he expected, so he left it at that.

"Alright everyone, please listen," Kiyoko said from the front of the Great Hall. That evening the party committee was meeting up - the ones still at Hogwarts, that is - needing to discuss the final things before the big day of Halloween.

"Tomorrow our hard works and efforts will be proved to everyone. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has been apart of this and given your tie and energy to such a celebration. To everyone returning tomorrow, I know they will appreciate it. Everyone, please give yourself a round of applause." Everyone clapped, Ushijima's quiet and slow from the back as he saw everyone cheering and getting over excited, mainly because it was Kiyoko at the front which to this day, Ushijima didn't understand why.

"The next thing I want to mention," Kiyoko looked down at her clipboard, "the Ministry mentioned that before any of the muggle students are to enter the school they will have to be sprayed with a magical Mist first. It's to trail off a scent from being in the muggle world for too long," Kiyoko explained, looking into the crowd of her committee. "We'll have shifts for people to be responsible for this. 7th and 6th years will be in charge, and 5th years if we do need the extra help. It will take time out for the party for us, but I can assure you that there will be fun parts throughout the whole night you can enjoy."

Ushijima has never heard of any sort of 'Mist' that needed to be sprayed for a scent problem, and thought it was odd to have such a rule, but he guessed the Ministry really wasn't taking any chances.

The Ministry really wasn't taking any chances from the beginning, Ushijima had to remember. With the school being a dirt building, no enchantments, no guards. He didn't have time to ask Sugawara anything because he needed to go back to Hogwarts, but Ushijima made the assumption that it was for the safety of the students and to have no Hunters at all on their trail.

Because after all, it _was_ for the protection of the students. Wasn't it?

"Lastly," Kiyoko got everyone's attention again when people were murmuring about the 'Mist' and who would get the first shifts. The jobs would probably be handed out later.

"I understand that this has been taxing on all of us. The point of this Halloween celebration is to make sure that the muggle born students and students under suspicions feel back at home. Normal. Like they never even left. So the Ministry has decided it would be best not to ask about or mention the division at all, no matter how curious. Any mention of it will be stopped by a supervisor and they suggest we do not ask until the end of the year. So please, to anyone deadly curious and cannot refrain from keeping their mouth shut, please tell me now to avoid conflict in the future."

There were chuckles, jokes and disgruntled mumbles under people's breaths, but Ushijima's main concern wasn't the fact that he couldn't talk about anything. It was that Tendou couldn't.

They promised they would go to the Whomping Willow to enjoy the Lunar Eclipse, and even though Tendou didn't say it, Ushijima had a feeling it would also be a time for Tendou to talk about things he couldn't while he was away with Sugawara. But what did Ushijima know? It could also be that Tendou wanted to be intimate on Halloween, which Ushijima didn't mind either. Sex has been something Ushijima has learned to be a natural action, and lust was natural as well. Even if it was still a little embarrassing.

"That would be it. Any concerns, questions or comments, please address them to me. Tomorrow will be a good day, worth waiting for. Again, thank you everyone for your hard work. We all deserve a good nights rest." Kiyoko bowed to everyone, clapping spreading through each person and then they were talking amongst themselves about tomorrow.

Ushijima stood on his own, planning to leave the Great Hall and call it a night. 

"Wakatoshi-kun," Sakusa called out, Osamu beside him, the two of them approaching Ushijima as well with their brooms. "Hello.""Why don't we play a game of Quidditch."   
Ushijima raised his eyebrows when Sakusa suggested a game of Quidditch, not expecting it to be so quick and so late at night, Ushijima was about to refuse the offer since he didn't want to stay up all night.

"So suddenly?" Ushijima asked, eyeing both Osamu and Sakusa. "We know it's late, but just a bit o'a game should be good," Osamu insisted, nodding his head over to the door. "Go get yer broom. Just a quick game for fun."

Ushijima looked out the window and sighed. As a Quidditch captain, he didn't want to refuse, but as a party committee member and prefect he wanted to go to sleep. Sakusa looked like he was anticipating though, his face covered by a cloth as usual, only his eyes being shown. Yet Ushijima could tell he was excited as Ushijima nodded his head.

"I'll go get my broom," Ushijima ended up saying. "Wait for me here." 

Tomorrow on Halloween, Ushijima would be with Tendou again, and that should be enough to give him energy. His hand went to his wrist where his purple bracelet dangled - Ushijima hasn't taken it off unless he took a shower.

"We'll be waiting," Sakusa said, continuing his conversation with Osamu as Ushijima walked off towards the Ravenclaw Tower just to get his broom. There would be no winners for this game, but that was okay.  
It was for...fun.

As he walked to the Ravenclaw Tower, Ushijima stopped in front of a window, looking out and seeing the crescent moon, shining bright enough to produce light, but not as strong as a full moon. Ushijima would never understand the effects Tendou went through, the life Tendou had to live, the concerns Tendou has never expressed to Ushijima. All because of how he was born.  
So how was Tendou so happy all the time, cheerful and sunny like the world didn't want him dead 24/7.

That's when Ushijima realized, even if the world hated him, despised him, repelled him, he would be okay. Because Tendou wasn't apart of the world. He was apart of Ushijima.  
And that was more than enough for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Oh my goodness, we are finished with the second-ish third-ish (I still don't know if I count the first 8 chapters, it was too fluffy to be an arch XD) arc of this series! There are a few things I want to say before I continue on :
> 
> First, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone reading! 'The Love Potion Of The Century' has reached over 1000 kudos and that just boggles my mind! I am so happy that this little Harry Potter prompt of mind has gotten people interested, even if it's a few people or a bunch, I just hope I can satisfy readers and bring joy to those reading. It means a lot to me and I hope everyone who has subscribed continue to enjoy my story and the ones I have planned in the future.
> 
> Secondly, I do know that this story does have angst and is dealing with situations that might be somewhat reflective of what is happening in the real world. I would like to say that I do not intend to exploit this type of behaviour, nor do I expect that this topic would make anyone quote-unquote 'comfortable'.  
> However, I do want to say that posting content with this type of topic, to me, brings attention in a different way. Even though it does have an extreme, I also think that it shows just how absurd and terrible it is to discriminate anyone for any sort of reason - especially for the way they were born.  
> Saying this, I want to add that we all should be doing our part to making the world a better place. Whether it's donating, spreading awareness or working on self-awareness - please consider what you can do. 
> 
> Lastly, I do also want to better myself, as a writer and as a person. People have kindly told me to do things such as ; add trigger warnings, post more author notes about my thoughts. I would love to hear more suggestions, and I intend to do more of these.  
> The world isn't a fanfiction, but I hope that reading this one and many more will bring some easing to people's life and help them focus on other things, even for just a brief moment.
> 
> Another thing I want to do is an appreciation for other creators! Here are a few people I would love to recommend for content consumers and maybe inspire a few people. So :
> 
> |Potterless - A Harry Potter podcast that it incredibly funny and dissects the series by chapters. 
> 
> |Harry Potter and The Sacred Text - Another Harry Potter podcast that dissects he Harry Potter series chapter by chapter, really gets into a literal sense and points out things I definitely wouldn't have noticed without help. Obviously I have a thing for literature, so I would love to hear other people's thoughts, opinions and notes. So if you would like to comment favourite parts of Harry Potter, your theories etc. I would love to hear them!!
> 
> |jjkrokodil_art - An artist on Instagram that I've been to for commissions multiple times ^^;. She did me as Ushijima so I think she's amazing.
> 
> |whatbritreads - A book TikToker who recommends amazing books, rates them and gives the fastest descriptions that helped me choose what books to buy and read. She's funny too and doesn't hesitate giving her opinion which is what we need in a critic!
> 
> That's all I have to say! Thank you again to everyone who has been reading this and reading this far. I hope everyone continues enjoying this series, check out those content creators, and please, please be kind and considerate. One person can make a difference.
> 
> Love you all <3 Stay safe ^3^


	34. Halloween

Date : October 31 1997

Time : 6 PM

Current Location : Hogwarts

Mission : Get in. Get out.

Halloween at Hogwarts was a very lively night, a celebration of all things witch craft and wizardry, magic in the air with a touch of mischief that the professors and the headmaster will allow, just for the next few hours without any punishment. On a night as special as Halloween, everyone is festive, without a worry in mind, not a soul in sight fearful for their lives, even the ghosts look a little more upbeat than usual. Obviously no one would want to do anything to ruin Halloween, especially in the year of '97, when the muggle born students were returning for the first time that year and greeting their long last seen friends - and some would say, their long last seen family.

Hogwarts had never looked better. Bright twinkling candles on the ceilings, hanging from charms that the Ravenclaws casted to make a flame last the entire night and eventually dim with their wands. Streamers tied prettily at the the top, looping and dragging through the walls in a shiny silver, black and orange. The Great Hall had the tables filled with feast food that would be devoured in seconds, but the headmaster had made sure that there would be enough food that night to feed ten armies (he knew how teenagers ate).  
All in all, everything was perfect at Hogwarts for Halloween.

Then there was the people. Oh, how everyone missed each other. There was warm hugs going around the room, loud chatter hear and there, the loudest the professors have heard in decades, all the voices buzzing with excitement and endless topics. Could you name who was who in the gigantic crowd? Perhaps. Yamamoto had quite a distinct voice, and Tanaka wouldn't stop jumping around. Terushima was dressed as a dog, appealing to a wide variety of 4th years who thought he was absolutely adorable.  
Of course, the quiet ones muttered a few words that gave a shock to everybody. Kita managed to crack a smile enough that Osamu wished he took a picture of while Sakusa scowled every time Atsumu insisted he put on bunny ears for 'just one photo'. Aone and Futakuchi went to the Great Hall for a few creampuffs before disappearing into the hallways, not to be seen again for the rest of the night.

Speaking of costumes, there was no question that the muggle borns went all out. Lev had the cute idea of making Yaku an animal tamer while dressing up as a lion, roaring occasionally so that Yaku couldn't help but laugh. Yachi chose to be a ballerina, blushing madly when Kiyoko commented on just how cute she looked in her tutu (Yachi made sure to compliment Kiyoko a million times and more on her witch costume). Semi had a bit of help, but he ended up being a vampire, though he was quite shocked when the other muggle borns told him he didn't need real blood around his mouth. The show stopper though, was when Kogane went all out and had a whole hotdog suit on, smiling proudly and showing off as he bumped the end of his hotdog into various artifacts and almost smashed several thousand of years olds antiques if it weren't for the prefects catching them and levitating them back to where they belonged. Nonetheless, everyone was in awe, both because of how cool Kogane's costume was and because he actually had the confidence of going into public wearing it.

It seemed, this year of 1997 had the time to squeeze in an epic Halloween party for Hogwarts.

Minus the fact that literally everyone forgot the fact that there was a literal divide between the school these past 2 months.

The Mist the Ministry of Magic was making the prefects spray on each muggle born, surprise surprise, had a Forgetfulness Potion, but the effects of one spray wasn't enough for people to forget too much, say, a whole lifetime like how it was used in Azkaban. But spray hundreds of students one time each and all of a sudden the past 2 months were out the door of their memory and now, no one was talking about the other school.

"Potions class this year is a bitch so far," Terushima groaned, throwing his head back, one of his dog ear's almost fell off but he caught it quickly and clipped it back onto his ear. "I regret taking a 6th year class."  
"What did we learn again?" Semi asked, blinking slowly as he sipped on a bit of fruit punch. "Amortentia is this year, right?""Yeah, they moved it to the 6th year curriculum instead of the 4th after what happened last year," Daishou filled in, only hanging out with Terushima and Semi because of the amount of girls that surrounded them. "But Terushima is taking a 6th year class in his 5th year, eh? Show off."

Everyone's conversations were normal like this, talking about school, talking about their assignments, their professors, their troubles in the common rooms and how they wished they had the courage to ask their crushes to dance while the slow music was still playing. Everything was rather normal after a whole 2 months of what everyone seemed to be complaining about at the same time.

"Is everyone inside?" Osamu asked, wondering if he could stop his spraying job at the front, or at least be replaced with another prefect because like all the other kids, he wanted to enjoy a nice party too after all the homework that had piled up. Kiyoko, who was monitoring every room and event every few minutes and making sure everything was going well, nodded her head, just about checking up on Osamu to make sure he was okay. "Yes, that's fine," Kiyoko said, taking the bottle of Mist and watching the entrance, then the time.  
The Lunar Eclipse was taking it's form soon, and everyone would be too busy with Halloween to notice.

"Ushijima-san should be coming any minute."

One of the prefect's jobs was to make sure every single student at Hogwarts was safe. At the entrance the prefect who was in charge of spraying the Mist and letting the students in has also been crossing off names and doing head counts to make sure that the number of expected would match to the the number of arrived. Ushijima happened to take this job very seriously.

"I'm back home and this is the treatment I get," Tendou huffed, crossing his arms in the corner and glaring at Ushijima, who right now was giving an extra spray to Yamaguchi after the Hufflepuff requested another go at it. Apparently he wanted to be 'as clean as possible before he saw Tsuki'.  
No, Tendou didn't know what that meant. Nor did he want to.

"I'm hungry!" Tendou finally yelled, throwing his hat - Tendou decided to be Sherlock after reading a JUMP special on it and insisted Ushijima to be Dr. Watson - at Ushijima, hitting him on the back of his head. Ushijima flinched, turning his head and giving a disapproving look to Tendou which Tendou responded with giving him the finger.

"When is this stupid prefect thing over?"  
"'Stupid'?" Ushijima repeated in confusion, holding up a list of names, crossed on, crossed off and check-marked. "This is for the safety of the students, Tendou. Please be more patient."  
"Mmph-" Tendou took a deep breath, clenching his fists then taking a deep breath. He knew Ushijima took his prefecting job seriously, and Tendou thought it was cute at first. If Ushijima didn't take his job with a sense of nobility then Tendou might still be the little, sad wolf without help on the full moons. But tonight, Tendou wanted to be Ushijima's.  
That couldn't happen if Ushijima was on the job.

"Thank you for coming back," Ushijima said to a few of the 2nd years, dressed up and happy to be back. Tendou was that giddy only 30 minutes ago before finding Ushijima and realizing that for the next hour, Ushijima would be staying at the front, greeting the students back like some sort of store clerk. For some reason, Tendou was getting some sort of déjà vu as he watched Ushijima greeting people in, bowing and then spraying them with the Mist.

"Waka-chan!" Tendou snapped out of his weird trance, kicking the back of his leg, but Ushijima wasn't budging. "Sherlock and Dr. Watson need to go on their adventure now," he resorted to whining, pulling on the end of Ushijima's trench coat - Tendou had to admit, Ushijima did do a good job on dressing up as Dr. Watson even with Tendou's vague and shitty description over a quick phone call the day before - trying to get Ushijima to budge but it wasn't happening. He was committed to staying at the front.

"When everyone has arrived safely then I will accompany Sherlock on the adventures he wishes to go on," Ushijima stated blankly, shifting his eyes on the papers and trying to count how many more students needed to come into the school. On the inside, there was another prefect he was making sure the numbers were staying steady, also counting the students at Hogwarts as well and making sure they were on school property. So every time they saw any student their name would be crossed off again, and the process would continue for the rest of the night to make sure no one was lost or left.

"Wow," Tendou breathed out, putting a hand on Ushijima's shoulder and pulling him closer. "Was that the first time you said something not so serious? I'm turned on.""Turn off then." Tendou groaned, letting go of Ushijima, going back into the corner and sulking, squatting on the ground and resting his chin on his knees as he watched his boyfriend doing his duty or whatever.

And Ushijima did it for another 50 minutes before he finally turned around to look at Tendou.

"Are you done?" Tendou asked, standing up a little too quickly, Ushijima had to catch him. Unintentional it may be, but Tendou took the opportunity to latch himself onto Ushijima, giving him a sweet kiss on the lips, brief and quick but enough to satisfy himself of an empty feeling he couldn't exactly pinpoint. He just felt really needy right now - which wasn't unusual for someone like Tendou.

"Everyone's here, right?" Tendou asked in a desperate voice, pulling Ushijima into the school, hungry and bored. For some reason though, Ushijima was staring at the paper of all the names, his eyebrows furrowing as he stayed stuck on one page. Tendou wanted to groan and whine in frustration, but held it in because if a student was actually missing, that wouldn't be a good thing at all.

"Waka-chan?"  
"There's a student who isn't at the party," Ushijima reported, looking up at Tendou with what looked like a concerned face. Tendou didn't know Ushijima could make such an expression before - or maybe he just never noticed it before.

"Tsukishima-kun. He's not at the party yet."

The headmaster's office wasn't a pleasant place to be, but Tsukishima really didn't want to be anywhere else right now. He knew downstairs, the returning students were having the time of their lives, coming back from a shit show school where the water didn't even work and the lights flickered in every room even if you changed the bulb. No magic, no friends, no fun.

Tsukishima remembered it all from his visit and the notes he would read from his dad's desk. He knew and he wanted to do something about it, he just didn't know what yet. What could a kid do in the midst of a political injustice?

Partying wasn't one of them, Tsukishima realized. But that wasn't why he wasn't down celebrating Halloween. Ever since he sent the letter to Yamaguchi, not once has Yamaguchi written back, no phone call notice, nothing. And it might of been a mix of pride and stubbornness, but Tsukishima wasn't going to go down if Yamaguchi didn't want to talk to him.

Did Yamaguchi want to talk to him?

"I need to chaperone the Halloween party eventually, Tsukishima-san. Please-""I'm not finished," Tsukishima said curtly, not looking up from the 'disinfectant' that he volunteered to provide. He wasn't making it, just putting it in this muggle-bottle-invention where the lid had a long tube connecting to it inside the bottle and when you pushed down on the top it sprayed the liquid inside. All Tsukishima had to do was pour it in and screw the lid on.

"All the students are downstairs," headmaster Akaashi sighed, taking the bottle away from Tsukishima, but Tsukishima just picked up another one and repeated the process. He had about 30 extra left.

"I don't know what you're fussing about," headmaster Akaashi said, and Tsukishima wasn't sure if it was because headmaster Akaashi was a dad, but the tone he had seemed like he's been through this process of forcing social interaction and he wasn't having it with Tsukishima. Which was a bust because Tsukishima was planning to play the anti-social brat card until he was allowed to stay in the headmaster's office without supervision.

"The party is going to be a joyous occasion. The party committee worked incredibly hard and now you're just lounging about in an office without even trying to participate in the celebration of-"  
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Tsukishima groaned, slamming down the stupid disinfectant, giving up when he started to get lectured. He's had enough scolding every time he talked to his dad, he didn't need anymore from a headmaster.

Headmaster Akaashi gave Tsukishima a small smile and a pat on the back. If Tsukishima considered who his son was, perhaps this wasn't the headmaster's first challenging teen and he did in fact master the act of forcing a quiet boy to at least be present during a social gathering. Tsukishima wished headmaster Akaashi wasn't as empathetic.

"You're not forced to stay for the whole thing," headmaster Akaashi reminded him, joining Tsukishima on walking down to where the party was happening, Tsukishima could hear the music and the chatter amplifying from the vibrations in the ground to the ringing in his ears. He hated it already.

"I know," Tsukishima muttered under his breath, separating from the headmaster as quickly as he could once the crowd started to get a little bigger, not wanting to force himself into anymore awkward conversation. With another student it was easy, all Tsukishima had to do was spit insults at them. He couldn't do that with an adult though.

"God," Tsukishima groaned softly, already trying to look for an exit from the crowded area, keeping his head down and holding his breath. In a sea of a bunch of prepubescent teens, no one should be forced to inhale.

"Oi, Glasses," an all too familiar low voice called out, making Tsukishima snap his head up and glare. "For fucks sake," Tsukishima growled, using the collar of his shirt and lifting it up over the bottom of his face when he stood up straight. "Looking for me or something?" 

Rolling his eyes, the black-haired mouse walked over to Tsukishima and stepped on his foot which Tsukishima didn't react to, trying to walk past him but he was stopped by the same figure.

"Why're leaving?" The question came out angry, but Tsukishima has skillfully learned over the years that that was just the way he talked. "Stay." Letting out a dry chuckle, Tsukishima let the collar of his shirt drop, pushing his glasses up and looking over at Kageyama over the frame with a sarcastic smile on his face. Kageyama just scowled at him.

"Why? Getting lonely, Your Highness?"

Kageyama felt dumb. His mouse ears were clipped onto his hair (clips borrowed from Kenma), his oversized grey sweater and grey sweatpants apparently made him look smaller than he actually was and he had a mouse tail tied onto the waistband of his sweatpants that kept getting pulled by prank-loving Slytherins. He ended up using a spell to make it bound permanently which he automatically regretted when he remembered that this was a pair of pants he actually used on a daily basis. Now he had to buy new ones.

"Where's your pet kitty?" Tsukishima asked lazily, glancing around like he was hiding from someone. When Kageyama saw him from across the room he thought Tsukishima was hiding from him. He would never admit how relieved he felt when he saw that it wasn't him.

"Getting food. Apparently he's been starving since he came," Kageyama sighed, leaning against the wall and eyeing Tsukishima up and down. He knew Tsukishima didn't enjoy people all that much, but it seemed like he was very uptight right now and for some reason, it made Kageyama feel uptight too. Should he be worried as well? On the lookout? After 2 months of stressful school work, a party seemed like the perfect way to wind down. So why did Tsukishima look like he just saw a Dementor?

"Who are you looking for?" Kageyama snapped, feeling anxious every time Tsukishima turned like he was looking for someone. "Your glasses don't work or something?"  
"Fuck off," Tsukishima growled back, pushing Kageyama to the side but Kageyama grabbed his wrist, pulling him back. They were both glaring at each other now, and by the way the 3rd year girls were squealing, this seemed to be the show everyone was waiting for. 

"Why're you being extra prissy tonight?" Kageyama asked lowly, Tsukishima's eyes narrowing and flicking his wrist out of Kageyama's grip. "I don't need your concern. Especially if you expect me to bow down right after you sow your seeds of pity."  
"Don't get smart with me."  
"Not that difficult though."

Now, Kageyama and Tsukishima were glaring at each other. If there was anything Kageyama hated more than Tsukishima being right, was Tsukishima being right and annoying about it.

"Kageyama! I got so much food, you might have to get extra yourself..." Hinata's excited voice trailed off when he interrupted the two of them staring way too intensely at each other, no one backing down.

No one backing down until Hinata pulled Kageyama away, that is. "You two really need to quit that," Hinata scolded lightly, tugging on Kageyama's arm to pull him further away, but all it did was make Kageyama glare harder. Tsukishima just rolled his eyes before giving Kageyama the finger and walking off since Hinata was there now to make sure a murder didn't break out at Hogwarts.

"Seriously Kageyama, I'm trying to have fun here," Hinata whined, shoving a plate of biscuits and creams into Kageyama's hand. If Hinata's cat ears were real, they would've been drooping down by now. "It doesn't work if you're not having fun either."

All of a sudden Kageyama's expression softened and he took the plate of biscuits, stuffing three of them in his mouth so he didn't have to feel obligated to reply. It was true, him and Hinata haven't been together a lot these past few months because of school, but that didn't mean Hinata had to be so somber about it. It wasn't like they were never seeing each other again or something.

So why did Kageyama feel like he was missing something when he saw Hinata stuffing his face with double the amount of food as usual, begging Kageyama with his eyes to keep spending time with him?

"Didn't know you talked to Tsukishima," Hinata commented as the two of them sat at a table together, munching on the Halloween snacks that were apparently unlimited until midnight. Kiyoko really outdid herself this time.

"I don't," Kageyama huffed, angrily chewing his biscuit on one side of his mouth and making his cheek puff out. "I yell at him.""Like how you yell at me?" Kageyama found it sort of cute how Hinata ended up asking the question in a jealous tone than a teasing one.

"No," Kageyama answered shortly. "I yell at you out of-ahem-" Kageyama coughed, choking on his biscuit, Hinata had to quickly get a glass of any drink nearby and force Kageyama to drink it. After a few gulps Kageyama choked out a piece of biscuit and spat it in a napkin.

"A-Affection."

Hinata's eyes sparkled, his mouth gaping open, Kageyama's face went red and he hit Hinata lightly on the cheek. All Hinata responded with was a big hug, squeezing Kageyama to the point where he was out of breath.

"O-Okay-" Kageyama gasped when Hinata let go, the orange-haired cat giggling as he looked up at Kageyama with a twinkle in his eye at the brief comment of love. Even if it was just a little bit, Kageyama couldn't believe just how happy it made Hinata, to the point where he wondered what would happen if Kageyama were to say everything on his mind when he thought about Hinata.

"Who helped you with your costume?" Hinata asked, the two of the ending up back in normal conversation after they argued very loudly about the boundaries of hugging and what was okay and what was mandatory. "It came out nice."  
"I guess I made it," Kageyama answered with a hint of proudness even though it was literally just a matching sweat-set and a few extra decorative pieces. "But Kenma-san helped with my hair."

Hinata blinked a few times, then perked up, looking around the Great Hall and pouting a bit. "Now that you've said it," Hinata slumped back down, eyes shifting but focused back on Kageyama in a snapped second.

"I haven't seen Kenma-san yet."

Blowjobs were good. Kuroo was great.

Blowjobs from Kuroo - indescribable.

"Fuck-" Kenma groaned, tugging on Kuroo's hair tightly, pulling it harshly in a way that made Kuroo whine but he didn't stop. The wetness engulfed around Kenma's cock right now, on top of the vibrations going up his body and making him shake every time Kuroo hummed or made any other sort of noise from his mouth, Kenma felt like he was deprived of something these past several weeks. Kuroo was always too busy for school all the time to give him this sort of pleasure, so it was probably something like that.

"Kuroo-fuck-" Kenma gasped, his whole body spazzing as he came inside of Kuroo's mouth, letting his whole body tense up then relax in a moment of pure bliss and calm.  
Blowjobs were amazing, especially when they were from Kuroo.

"Let me do you," Kenma said, pulling his pants up a few minutes after and pushing himself onto Kuroo. The two of them were in the boy's Ravenclaw bathroom, away from the party and the loud noise, and even though Kenma knew it was selfish for him to take Kuroo away from his friends on the first night of total relaxation, he couldn't help it. Tonight, he wanted Kuroo to be all his.

"Wait, wait," Kuroo stopped him, taking Kenma's wrists, but Kenma ignored him, pulling his hands away and crawling between Kuroo's legs, using his knees to spread Kuroo's legs apart and trying to mimic what Kuroo did only a few minutes ago.

"Wait, Kenma, listen to me-"  
"I can do it," Kenma looked up as Kuroo got on his feet, trying to pull Kenma up with him but Kenma stubbornly stayed on the ground. "That's not fair. I got to feel good and you didn't."  
"Watching you feel good makes me feel good too," Kuroo insisted, finally using more force and lifting Kenma up completely. "The Halloween party is going on. Don't you wanna join?"

The quick answer was no. Kenma didn't want to go to that crowded, loud Halloween party, especially when he felt like he finally had Kuroo all to himself for a whole night. No work, no school, no distractions.  
Of course, Kuroo somehow persuaded Kenma to dress up, but not an outstanding costume or anything. Kenma was just wearing a cat-ear headband and the only thing keeping him from ripping it off and smashing it on the ground was that Shouyou seemed so excited when he saw they were matching.

"I mean," Kenma grumbled, finally standing up as well and muttering some sort of curse under his breath, not because he was mad at Kuroo, but because he knew that the party should be celebrated.   
Halloween was an important holiday at Hogwarts after all.

"Fine."

Buttoning his pants up, Kenma was scowling quietly as he started walking towards the exit of the bathroom, Kuroo behind him and giving him a soft kiss on the back of his head.

"Don't worry, it's not the end of the world," Kuroo chuckled, ruffling Kenma's hair in between his headband which made Kenma even more annoyed, resulting into a soft slap to Kuroo's hand. "Whatever," Kenma mumbled, not particularly excited about being in a hot, sweaty crowd of other students, but he supposed if he found some of their friends it wouldn't make things too bad.

As they were leaving the bathroom however, Kenma was all of a sudden bumped into another figure, making him stumble back so Kuroo had to catch him. "Careful!" Kuroo scolded to the other person, Kenma shaking his head as he stood back up and saw who it was.

"Oh, Nishinoya," Kenma greeted quietly, seeing the back-to-blond Gryffindor, panting like he just ran here, face flushed and a the biggest smile on his face. Even Nishinoya took an opportunity to wear a costume.

"Not going to the party?"

Nishinoya let out a deep exhale and grinned as he adjusted the crown on his head and tied the cape around his neck tighter so it wouldn't slide off. Kenma and Kuroo leaving the washroom together meant that there was no one else in there.  
Empty washroom equalled perfect in Nishinoya's book.

"Where's Asahi-san?" Kenma asked, snapping Nishinoya out of his thoughts as he looked over his shoulder, actually exiting the bathroom with Kuroo following behind him. "He's not here with you?"  
"I told him to meet me here!" Nishinoya said proudly, because he was the one who planned the whole thing. "Most of the Ravenclaws are apart of the party planning committee so I calculated that this bathroom wouldn't be that used. So Asahi-san and I could, you know," Nishinoya winked at Kenma, making the Ravenclaw grimace and shudder while Kuroo gave Nishinoya a hi-five.

"I mean, I guess," Kenma mumbled under his breath, shifting glances towards Kuroo. "But the Ravenclaw bathrooms are the only ones open too, so I don't know how that'll work out."

Nishinoya opened his mouth then closed it, unsure how to process that fact. In that moment a group of Slytherin boys were walking towards the Ravenclaw bathroom, rudely demanding the three of them to move out of the way, but Nishinoya was too fazed to really fight back.  
Now that the Ravenclaw bathroom was out of limits, he had to devise a new plan - this one was already so hard to think up though!

"Way to go," Kenma gave a sympathetically sarcastic smile that made Nishinoya both admire and hate Kenma right now. "You guys should totally fuck in front of those Slytherins."  
"I'm working out a plan," Nishinoya hissed, pursing his lips as he tried his best to think about where else no one would be on the night of the biggest party at Hogwarts this year. Sadly, no matter what place he could think of, the chances of someone already being there was too high for him to actually consider it. Which was a total bust - he really wanted to be alone with Asahi for the night.

"The Whomping Willow," Kuroo suddenly said, making the two purebloods heads snap up. "Isn't it closed off for the night?"

Like lightening rushing down on Nishinoya's body, thunder clapping on his head and striking him with the memory that seemed so distant yet fresh in his mind. Nishinoya and Kenma both realized at the same time.

"We're supposed to meet at the Whomping Willow," Nishinoya and Kenma said at the same time, their eyes widening as they turned around, heading for the nearest exit outside. If the Lunar Eclipse had already started then they would have to be extra careful not to get caught.

"Wait, what?" Kuroo confusedly said as he blindly followed them, both Nishinoya and Kenma speed walking, trying to look out the window to see if the Lunar Eclipse had started while trying to keep a fast pace so that they could get to the Whomping Willow before anyone else. Who else would want to go to the killing, death-loving tree? Who knows.

"We have to be quick."  
"I don't even remember why we agreed to go to the Whomping Willow," Nishinoya stated, furrowing his eyebrows and realizing just how fuzzy his memories of the last 2 months were.  
As in, Nishinoya couldn't recall a single memory and be totally confident it happened from these past 2 months.

"Neither do I," Kenma muttered, more to himself but Nishinoya still heard it. "Neither do I."

As they finally made it to the back of the Ravenclaw Tower, Nishinoya saw that there were already two people also sneaking out that weren't Kuroo and Kenma. He wasn't too shocked when he saw a Slytherin, but a fellow Gryffindor did get a few questions rising.

"Daichi-san," Nishinoya greeted the stunned captain with a wide smile and wave. "Where're you heading?"

Daichi and Sugawara were acting like they were on some sort of honeymoon. Head in the clouds, wrapped up in each other like a newlywed couple, it was like they were stuck in the honeymoon phase.

"Ah," Daichi said slowly when he saw not only Nishinoya catching him sneaking out, which was already pretty bad, but also Kenma and Kuroo. It wasn't in character for Daichi to be wandering around the school, doing something he wasn't supposed to do. Granted, Sugawara was the one who dragged him out, but it wasn't like Daichi was unwilling.  
Not when it came to Sugawara.

"Well, you see-""We're just going out and enjoying the Lunar Eclipse," Sugawara answered, looking up at the sky and smiling innocently. "It's coming up soon, isn't it? 37 minutes."

The Lunar Eclipse had already started, part of the moon already covered and slowly inching to covering the whole thing. Daichi didn't know how Sugawara knew that actual down to the minute time, or even if it was accurate, but he didn't correct him.

"So are we," Kenma spoke up, taking the cat ears off his head and looked at both Daichi and Sugawara. "Where were you two going to watch it?"

Daichi gulped, feeling like there was some unnecessary tension in the air, like Kenma was suspecting them of something and therefore so was Nishinoya and Kuroo. Nishinoya and Kuroo stood behind Kenma, crossing their arms and staring Daichi and Sugawara down, as if their answer was going to determine whether or not they were on the good or bad side - good or bad side of what, Daichi was trying to figure out himself.

"The Whomping Willow," Sugawara answered confidently, even though that wasn't the spot Daichi agreed on. "What about you guys?"

Kenma stiffened, and notably so did Nishinoya and Kuroo. The tension only thickened, for reasons Daichi wasn't sure on, but it when it looked like an argument was going to break in, Daichi stood in the middle.

"Hey now," Daichi said calmly, getting everyone's attention. "What's the big deal? Why're you guys acting like we're some sort of...I don't know," Daichi couldn't find the words, still in the unknown about lots of things right now. How did Nishinoya end up with the Kenma-Kuroo couple? Why were they sneaking out too? Where were _they_ going?

"I could ask the same thing," Kuroo stepped in, grinning cheekily at Daichi, and even though it was annoying it sort of relieved Daichi of the tension he was feeling between all of them.

"What're you doing out here sneaking about, Mr. Captain Sir?"

Daichi let out a small chuckled huff, glancing at Daichi then sighing in a small defeat. Guess their quality time was going to be cut short this evening. School has been so hectic this year, he thought he could finally have a relaxing night, but it seemed that there were still children that needed some attention.

"Kuroo, look, I-""Kenma?"

All of them turned to see who the newest member of their little outdoor club was, just adding onto the people in question and in need of questioning. Daichi wanted to laugh at just how many of them were coming outside and leaving the party. There couldn't be that many of them, and not all of them should want to be 'seeing the Lunar Eclipse'. They were all out here for another reason.

"Keiji-kun!" Nishinoya exclaimed excitedly, their focus shifting to Bokuto behind him, and now they weren't the only couple flustered for being caught sneaking outside. 

"What's...going on?" Akaashi asked slowly, noting automatically just how many people were outside the Ravenclaw Tower and how many of the were a couple. It seemed him and Bokuto weren't creative enough when they were deciding a hiding spot for themselves.

"We're going to watch the Lunar Eclipse together," Kuroo answered drily, and by the look on Daichi's face it looked like no one actually wanted to watch it, no more together. Whatever led up o this moment though, Akaashi didn't want to be in the middle of it.

"I see," Akaashi nodded his head slowly, taking Bokuto's hand and trying to leave, but Kenma stopped them by holding his wand out. "You're joining us," Kenma stated like a fact, turning his head to look at Akaashi. Why did it look like Kenma was looking for something in him though, like there was intent for his blunt, briefness.

"We're going to the Whomping Willow."

If the words were supposed to trigger something in Akaashi, the way Kenma emphasized 'Whomping Willow' harshly before turning and walking off, then it worked. Because Akaashi's hand twitched and his mind had a very blurry memory of smelling alcohol on Bokuto.

"Akaashi-"  
"Bokuto-san," Akaashi cut him off before Bokuto could make any other comment that would get them to turn back. Some things were coming back to Akaashi, but he wasn't even sure what it was. It didn't feel like Akaashi was forgetting anything - was what he was remembering an actual memory? Or just a figment of his imagination?

Looking at Bokuto, Akaashi saw his hair deflated and a big pout on his face. Bokuto insisted on dressing like an owl, first as a joke but then they both ended up doing it. The point was, even Bokuto's fake wings looked depressed and that concerned Akaashi a lot.

"Bokuto-san," Akaashi said again, this time in a much softer voice, petting his hair. "What's wrong?""The Whomping Willow," Bokuto answered automatically, whispering this time since Kenma, Kuroo, Nishinoya and even Sugawara and Daichi looked creepily interested in the two. "I think we should go."

And even though Akaashi hated to admit it, he knew that was the right thing to do. Something was wrong, he could feel it. It's just that he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it is.

"You remember too, don't you?" Nishinoya asked as the group of them started to walk towards the Whomping Willow, face paced and scrunching their brains together. "That we agreed to meet here."

Akaashi had a blurred memory of it, because he remembered saying the words, a familiar sense of anxiousness and concern for Bokuto, but he was always worried about Bokuto. There was a big missing part of the story and that was the explanation as to why they were meeting in the Whomping Willow in the first place. Why would anyone want to meet next to a literal killing machine?

"I got closer, butt-face!"  
"No! I got closer, boke! You think you're fast enough for me?"

Akaashi blinked slowly as he saw the two 4th years, running closer and closer to the Whomping Willow, warily looking up every step they took closer to make sure they didn't wake or startle the tree. With big grins on their faces, sprinting back together, Kageyama was cheering himself on and proudly stating how he got closer, while the shorter of the two whined about how it wasn't fair because Kageyama's feet were just centimetres bigger.

"Shouyou..." Kenma breathed out worriedly, looking back from Hinata to the tree, then at Daichi who was already stomping after Kageyama and Hinata. 

But Hinata hasn't been happier. Or at least, that's what it felt like. The rush and the fun that came out of the risk of almost being hit dead with the thick branches of an enchanted tree while running beside his favourite person, it was like Hinata was missing out on something for the past forever. Kageyama looked like he was having fun too, which was a huge bonus.

"You two-" Daichi gritted his teeth, taking both Kageyama and Hinata by the collar and pulling them back. "Reckless. Nothing but reckless." Hinata and Kageyama chocked as they were pulled back, turning to see not only Daichi, but a whole group of people watching them right now - and all friends!

"Kenma-san!" Hinata managed to jump out of Daichi's grip, too quick for Daichi to catch him again. "What happened to your cat-ears? We're not matching anymore!" Turning red, Kenma tried to search his pockets but his flushed face told Hinata that Kenma didn't have them anymore. It was fine for Hinata though, because Kageyama still hasn't taken off his mouse costume so they were still matching.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Daichi ended up asking as he scolded the two of them, forcing them to stand still beside each other. "The Whomping Willow isn't a place to play! It's dangerous. You can lose your life if you're too careless."

True. Very true, but Hinata was having _fun_ for once. No school work, no stress, and an odd feeling of wanting to spend time with Kageyama more than usual was wrapping around Hinata's mind and heart in a way that suffocated the rest of his emotions, even his feeling of intuition. Thus, the suggestion of playing their usual competition of 'Who Can Get Closest To The Whomping Willow By The End Of The Night?"

"And on the night of the Eclipse!" Daichi exclaimed, laughing coldly and shaking his head in disappointment. "You two are really something else. Making a careless decision like this."

It felt like it's been ages since Daichi has scolded Hinata, but Hinata did notice that Daichi wasn't hitting him like usual. Maybe he found a new form of punishment this year.

"Okay, we're all here at the Whomping Willow," Sugawara said, looking at everyone and getting everyone's attention. "Now what?"

Kenma looked up to the sky, noting that the moon was now half covered. "We wait for the Eclipse to start," Kenma stated, sitting on the grass with a 'thump', Kuroo sitting beside him. Akaashi was slow to join, and of course Bokuto didn't hesitate to join him along with Nishinoya. Daichi was hesitant but he also sat down, crossing his arms and sitting up straight, nodding his head firmly as Sugawara sat next to him.

Hinata was confused, but followed along, Kageyama also doing the same. "Why're we waiting for the Eclipse?" Kageyama whispered, Hinata shrugging in response. Honestly, Hinata was just doing what Bokuto was doing since for some reason. Hinata couldn't remember if he's been following what Bokuto has been doing for a long time, or if it was a gut feeling - either way, the thought was thrown out the window because it didn't seem all that important right now.

As they waited, looking up at the dark sky that was scattered with stars and the slowly covered up moon, a rustle in the bushes startled Hinata, causing him to jump and cling onto Kageyama.

"Is this what we're waiting for?""Shh!"

Hinata wanted to whine when everyone simultaneously told him to shut up, but he quickly zipped his lips up when the rustling started again. Hinata's hand clutched around Kageyama's arm, trying to see what was behind the bush while also trying to stay safe behind everyone. All of them had their wands out and pointed towards the bush, ready for whatever it was to come.

Finally, a tenth figure emerged from the bushes, also with their wand out, sighing loudly in the middle of a pant. Hinata's eyes widened when he saw who it was and quickly smiled, jumping onto his feet.

"Iwaizumi-san!"

"Have any of you seen Oikawa?"

Was it shitty that that was the first question Iwaizumi asked once he got the opportunity? Perhaps, but Iwaizumi hasn't seen Oikawa all night and now he was filled with worry because it felt like he hadn't seen Oikawa in forever. Not that it was an emergency and Iwaizumi had to see him right that second, but it would've been really nice to find his boyfriend right about now on what was supposed to be the funnest night in the school year.

"What happened to Oikawa-san?"  
"I don't know! I just can't find him," Iwaizumi didn't even have time to be shocked that Nishinoya asked, but instead looked around desperately by the Whomping Willow even though deep down, Iwaizumi knew he wouldn't be there. Oikawa wouldn't just wander around to the closest life-threatening plant intentionally without Iwaizumi's permission.

"Is he in his room?" Akaashi suggested, but Iwaizumi just shook his head. "No, I checked.""Great Hall?""No," Iwaizumi sighed, Kageyama of course having the simplest guess. "Bathroom?" Iwaizumi just shook his head and groaned. He didn't even know why he was so worked up about not seeing Oikawa, but his gut was telling him that he needed to find him right now.

"Why're you guys all-all sitting here?" Iwaizumi asked, a bit out of breath. "Waiting for something?""The Lunar Eclipse." Kenma answered, his body curdled up and into a small all, Iwaizumi almost missed him.

"Huh," Iwaizumi said with a nod, looking up and noticing the moon was half covered. Did Oikawa want to see the Whomping Willow as well? Now he wasn't so sure, all he knew was that Oikawa wasn't anywhere right now and it was stressing Iwaizumi out because he always knew where Oikawa was, even if they weren't together. Oikawa always made a conscious effort to inform Iwaizumi about his whereabouts.  
Did Oikawa tell him where he went and Iwaizumi just forgot?

"Sit with us," Hinata suggested happily, on his knees and waving for Iwaizumi to sit down. "He'll turn up eventually, won't he? Just wait with us!" Hinata's cheerful attitude oddly put Iwaizumi at ease, nodding his head as he sat down on the grass near the Whomping Willow with the rest of them. They looked crazy, he knew that much. But at least he didn't look crazy on his own.

"Is anyone else getting a weird sense that something should be happening?" Bokuto asked out loud, but most of them dismissed the question as the stupid talk Bokuto always did. "What do you mean?" Of course Akaashi entertained the idea. "I mean I feel like there's a purpose for us being here," Bokuto went on, furrowing his eyebrows and looking at everyone, then back at Akaashi.

"I feel like we're supposed to be doing something."

No one knew what that meant, but Iwaizumi was too occupied in his thoughts about where the fuck Oikawa was to care. "Is that a Phoenix feather?" Iwaizumi asked loudly, squinting as he saw a big, thick, sparkling feather falling from a tree, like a leaf, just dragging itself with the wind. As if the night couldn't get even more weird and suspicious.

"Phoenix...." Hinata mumbled under his breath, eyes widening before he looked over at both Iwaizumi and Bokuto, Kuroo as well gulping like they all remembered something. They looked up at the top of the tree - not the Whomping Willow - to see a big Phoenix in the arms of it's recent babysitter for the past 2 months. For the past 2 months...  
What happened during these past 2 months again?

"Tadashi-kun!" Hinata called out, waving at a shy Yamaguchi holding the Phoenix for some reason. Why did Yamaguchi have a Phoenix?

"Tadashi-kun, come join us! You can bring your bird too!"

Finding Tsukishima was proven a hard task when even Fireball couldn't do it. It was like Tsukishima didn't want to be found, which wasn't a bad thing of course, but Yamaguchi thought at the very least, he would be able to find him.  
Turned out Tsukishima really didn't want to be apart of this part though, even if Yamaguchi was down there.

"I have to find Asahi-san," Nishinoya said suddenly before Yamaguchi had the chance to land on the ground. Nishinoya was already up, frantically running around and back into Hogwarts. "I told him to go to the bathroom!"

Yamaguchi wasn't sure what that meant but he took it as an invitation to join the little group of people who want to be apart of the Lunar Eclipse show, sitting down with Fireball on his arm.

"Where'd you get that?" Kageyama asked harshly, backing away from Yamaguchi and glaring at it. Fireball pecked it's beak on Yamaguchi's jawline, making him giggle softly.  
"Fireball? I, uh," Yamaguchi didn't know how to explain that the Phoenix just Apparated on his shoulder out of nowhere while he was looking for Tsukishima. He remembered the name, but how the Phoenix knew him, it didn't register to Yamaguchi in time.

And because of that, Yamaguchi knew at the very least, something was wrong.

"He just came-""It's starting!" Kuroo exclaimed, all of them looking up at the sky and seeing the moon slowly being covered up, the last inch of it left to go. It took a while for Yamaguchi to notice, but really everything outside was dark. The stars were doing an amazing job giving them light though, and Yamaguchi could make out the faces of everyone, but other than that Yamaguchi couldn't see past the fields of grass at their feet.

"The Lunar Eclipse is starting."

Yamaguchi didn't know why he bothered to turn and look to see if Tsukishima would surprise him by popping out of nowhere, or show up at the Whomping Willow out of all places. It was just giving Yamaguch false hope, to make him feel better Fireball starting to peck at his cheek lightly. Animals were better than people, Yamaguchi has learned to come to terms with it.

"Why is this such a big deal?" Sugawara mumbled his question, but since it was already so quiet everyone could hear it. "I don't know," Daichi replied back in his ear, again, everyone could hear it though. "I guess it's supposed to be pretty?"

As the moon was slowly being covered up completely, Yamaguchi glanced at everyone, picking out who was actually there. Hinata and Kageyama, who were staring up at the sky in anticipation. Iwaizumi, who was fiddling with his hands and rocking back and forth like he was anxiously waiting for something big to happen. Akaashi and Bokuto who were both staring up at the sky in the same way Daichi and Sugawara were, like they were expecting a firework show or some sort of spectacle.

It wasn't until Yamaguchi glanced over at Kuroo and Kenma that something clicked in his mind. 

Fireball...is spoiled.

"Kuroo-san," Yamaguchi breathed out, straightening upwards and leaning closer into the mesh of people to get Kuroo's attention. Kenma scowled, but Kuroo turned his head to see what Yamaguchi wanted, nodding his head over at him.

"Kuroo-san," Yamaguchi said again, now getting Kenma's attention as well. "Kuroo-san. Fireball is from Minister Faiji. I-I think he's not supposed to be here."

Kuroo knew Yamaguchi wasn't a liar. It might have been physically impossible for Yamaguchi to tell a lie, his face would give it away completely and ruin it. However, to hear that the Minister of Magic's pet Phoenix was with them right now without the Minister himself there to guard it was absurd. And why, out of all people, would Yamaguchi have him? It wasn't like the Phoenix needed a better place to stay other than the big mansion that Minister Faiji probably had for his Phoenix only. Fireball didn't need Yamaguchi's doting and care.

But Kuroo did find it a little weird that Yamaguchi was carrying a Phoenix around.

"Minister Faiji?" Kuroo repeated, entertaining the idea of Yamaguchi's at first. The more he thought about it, the easier it was to imagine, and for some reason a sense of déjà vu was hitting Kuroo, looking at the Phoenix on Yamaguchi's arm and then back at Yamaguchi again. This scene has happened before, Kuroo couldn't deny that much.

"Minister Faiji..." Kuroo opened his mouth then closed it, remembering something that nauseated his head, looking up at the stars and feeling like something up his throat was about to spit out on it's own unwillingly. Kuroo's mind was winding something, burning out everything in his mind as he tried to resist the sick feeling, but it only piled up and up and up.

"Kuroo?" Kenma said in concerned, but Kuroo couldn't see his own face so he didn't know what Kenma was so concerned about. He paled out, his mouth drying and he wanted to say something but he didn't know what to say.  
If Kuroo didn't know any better, he would have said that an effect of some sort of drug was wearing off of him.

Or potion.

"We agreed to meet at the Whomping Willow," Kuroo choked out, holding his throat and looking over at Kenma with wide eyes in realization. The memories of the past 2 months were slowly coming back in a small haze, explaining why he felt like he hasn't seen Kenma in so long, why Kenma looked different than when he last saw him and why everyone at Hogwarts was taking the Halloween part so seriously, though Kuroo didn't think too much of any of these facts because it just made sense in the moment.

If Yamaguchi didn't point anything out, Kuroo would've ended the night not remembering anything.

"We were supposed to meet here. Because of Minister Faiji," Kuroo gasped, feeling a cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck. "Minister Faiji told us to meet here?" Bokuto asked dumbly, Kuroo wanted to hit him in the face, but held back. It wasn't like Kuroo could make a clear indication either what was going on. Everything hurt, from the back of his head to the bottom of his feet.  
Everything was pulsing, even Kenma couldn't calm him down.

"Minister Faiji," Sugawara was the one who called the name out softly, the name tingling in Kuroo's mind until he finally looked up to see Sugawara's face both enlightened and fearful.

"Sugawara?"

Slowly. How slowly it was coming back, but Sugawara wasn't blaming himself for it. Because there was a simple explanation for everything, a simple explanation that could get them all out of here feeling like they didn't just waste a whole night on a moon that wasn't even there.

Sugawara has studied this. He knew what was happening. He just didn't know how to stop it.

"Remember Amortentia last year?" Sugawara asked slowly, everyone shocked at the question, Kenma and Akaashi looking like they were speculating something from what Sugawara was suggesting, but could only predict. Sugawara had a feeling their predictions though, were accurate.

"What about it?" Daichi asked slowly, keeping his eyes on Sugawara, if Sugawara wasn't so concerned about what was happening to their bodies he would have surely melted under Daichi's gaze.

"The effects it had on you," Sugawara said, getting everyone to listen to him, even though his voice was quiet and shaking. "The effects it had on all of us. Do you remember?"  
"I smelled Kageyama," Hinata said proudly, making Kageyama hit him on the back of the head but instead of chuckling at their antics, Sugawara shook his head. "No, not like that. In the forest, when you were all alone. The Amortentia made you feel-"

"Insane." Akaashi finished the sentence, looking up at the whole group of them, then touched his forehead. "Sweaty.""Nauseous," Kenma chimed in, holding his forehead and took deep breaths. "Like I was going to suffocate.""Sad." Bokuto pouted, wiping the back of his neck. "Everything makes you feel sad," Iwaizumi mumbled, but no one laughed. Sugawara even wondered if it was supposed to be a joke.

"Are you saying we took a potion?" Kenma asked, making them all different levels of surprised and stunned. When Sugawara nodded his head, unsurely but he didn't know what else could be the explanation for how they were all feeling.

And why now Sugawara was realizing, he couldn't remember a thing from the past few months of his life. Not clearly, anyway.

"Bokuto-kun," Sugawara got Bokuto's attention, the poor Gryffindor looking as worried as ever. "Do you remember what you did for you birthday?""Of course!" Bokuto answered defensively, his face scrunching up and opening his mouth wide to answer.

"This year I-" he cut himself off, gaping his mouth but no words were coming out. "Well this year I-" again, he couldn't finish the sentence. He finally started thinking harder, resting his hand on his chin. "This year I-, uh, well, I celebrated it....Akaashi, do you remember?" Akaashi as well looked confused, deep in thought, staying silent even though the question either.  
"No," Akaashi finally answered after a few minutes of tense silence. "I don't."

The whole group were now thinking together about it, the past 2 months and what has happened. Why did Yamaguchi have a Phoenix on his arm? Why did Nishinoya still have a bit of white hair on the sides of his blond streak? What did Bokuto do for his birthday? What did Kenma do for his birthday? Why was it that no one could remember anything?

"Forgetfulness Potion!"

From the school, Tsukishima was running for his life, Ushijima and Tendou beside him. Tsukishima had a piece of parchment in his hand, panting as he joined the little group of theirs. Sugawara's heart ached a little when he saw Yamaguchi look so excited.

"Forget-Forgetfulness Potion," Tsukishima gulped as he stopped running, panting as he rested his hands on his knees. "I-I made it with-with-" gasping for air, Tsukishima hit Tendou, indicating he wanted Tendou to finish his sentence.

"Tendou?" Sugawara got up, taking the parchment from Tsukishima and reading it, his eyes widening when he saw the recipe for a Forgetfulness Potion and the perfect amount of dosage for a person to only forget 8 weeks of their life.

"We can all thank Waka-chan for this! He deserves the spotlight!" Tendou bragged, patting Ushijima on the head playfully, and of course Ushijima didn't look a bit amused with the action. Tendou didn't let that discourage him though.

"He's the one that noticed that he couldn't remember how my last full moon went. After putting two and two together," and conveniently bumping into Tsukishima in the hallway who already had the Forgetfulness Potion recipe in his hand and was ready to take it to the headmaster, but Tendou didn't need to go into petty details, "Waka-chan figured out that they've been spraying us all!"  
"We don't remember," Tsukishima huffed out after he finally caught his breath again. "Well, I do. I didn't get sprayed.""But you'll start to forget soon," Ushijima stated seriously, no one looked like they would question Ushijima's statement. "Because it's in the air. Everyone has it on their person, you'll inhale it eventually and get an enough dosage to forget at least the past few weeks, if not all 8."

Tendou always liked it when Ushijima talked all smart like that.

"So how do we stop it?" Hinata asked warily, standing up, Kageyama standing with him. The short orange-haired boy was holding his head in his hands, worriedly looking up at everyone. "I don't want to forget.""You won't forget anything," Kageyama scowled, ruffling Hinata's hair, but all it did was make Hinata whine and hit Kageyama's hands away. "But I've already forgotten! I don't remember anything these past 2 months of school!"

It took Tendou time, but after stepping out from the party where the potion concentration was heavy, the potion's effects started to wear off significantly and he's remembered up to recently. And that was enough to remember why Halloween was so important to them this year.

"It shouldn't take too long," Tendou said firmly, surprising everyone with his leader-like voice and reassurance. "We're far from the crowd. If we wait a few minutes, maybe the potion will wear off completely from all of us."  
"I think it'll take longer than that," Sugawara mumbled as he inspected the recipe for the Forgetfulness Potion and sighed. "During a Forgetfulness Potion you're supposed to use a Memory Charm to complete it. Whoever made this used a complete ' _obliviate_ ' spell," Sugawara sighed and looked up at everyone. "It might take a while before we get our memories back. I would say a week."  
"Then let's make a Memory Potion," Bokuto suggested strongly. "Get our memories back easily.""You say it like it's that easy to make a Memory Potion," Tsukishima scowled coldly, making Bokuto defensive, but he didn't say anything back because Tsukishima was right. Making potions in general wasn't easy, so to make an enough batch for all of them, possibly all of Hogwarts - it wasn't something that they should be considering heavily.

"What do you remember, Tendou?" Sugawara asked, looking up at Tendou, his eyes narrowing and skeptical. "Maybe you can trigger something in us to remember too. What did you remember when the potion started wearing off?"

Tendou snorted, wanting to make a joke about how no one would want to remember what they've been through, but it seemed like none of them actually knew what it was that they've been through this past beginning of the school year. Sighing sadly, Tendou shrugged and took the recipe back in his hands so he could have something to occupy his attention span.

"Minister Faiji," Tendou couldn't say a lot, obviously. He couldn't casually slip in that he threatened to send the Minister of Magic to Azkaban as long as he didn't reveal Tendou was a werewolf. "And his sick obsession with IwaIwa.""Oh, can-it." Iwaizumi growled back, Tendou ready to fight back, but the running footsteps behind him made him still, turning around to see who it was.

"Iwa-chan!" An obnoxiously high voice screamed out, Oikawa running towards the group and Iwaizumi's eyes widened, uncrossing his arms and stepping forward as well.

"Oikawa!"

Muggles. Oikawa didn't even know why he was doing it, but he was getting signs and flyers ready for some sort of muggle movement with Nishinoya in the Gryffindor common room before Nishinoya completely abandoned him once the party started, saying he was going to find Tanaka and would be back quickly. Turned out, 'quickly' to Nishinoya meant 'never'.

Before he knew it, Oikawa lost track of the time and the Halloween feast was done already. Even though technically the buffet would be open till midnight, Oikawa still missed a big chunk of the party.

Meaning he lost time with Iwaizumi.

Except, when Oikawa got to the party, Iwaizumi wasn't there. He kept asking around, asking all the people who went to the other school with him, but they would answer Oikawa with a very rude 'how am I supposed to know?'. Oikawa didn't appreciate it, but when he saw Ushijima leaving the school out through the Ravenclaw Tower exit, he took the chance.

Oikawa had ever felt so good about following Ushijima before.

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa cried out happily, jumping into Iwaizumi's arms, stroking his face and hugging him tightly. "How're you feeling? Did you eat? You feel okay, right?" Oikawa asked quickly, wanting to talk about all the things they weren't able to talk about when Iwaizumi sneaked out to visit Oikawa that one time, what now felt like a long time ago.

Yes, Oikawa did remembered everything.

"Nishinoya told me everything, yeah?" Oikawa said, nodding his head and noticing Iwaizumi's confused face. Of course, Oikawa was ignoring everyone else too. "He told me. I knew you would want to help too, so I started helping him with campaign and stuff. Don't worry, we can start after tonight. But I have to find Nishinoya first, so let's just-""I'm sorry," Bokuto interrupted Oikawa, stepping in with a very puzzled, inquisitive look.

"'Nishinoya'? As in, Noya? Gryffindor Noya?" Bokuto asked in unmasked surprise. "What are you doing with Noya?"

Of course, Bokuto wouldn't have known that Nishinoya and Oikawa were getting along now, so he started to explain. Bokuto was his friend anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem. "Nishinoya told me about what was happening with-""If this is just a terrible scheme to provoke Noya-kun even more, that's not cool, you know?" Daichi didn't even let Oikawa finish. "I know you're a Slytherin and all, but that's really not cool."

Oikawa's eyes widened when Daichi all of a sudden got defensive. These past few days, Daichi _saw_ Nishinoya and Oikawa getting along. How could he say that now so suddenly? Didn't he see Oikawa helping Nishinoya out, eventually also getting passionate about the topic as well?

"Oikawa, we know that you're our friend and all," Kuroo added on, stepping forward, Oikawa was too frozen in shock to move back. "But you can't mess with Noya-kun like that. We know your relationship with him and that's just not cool. You hear us?"

Oikawa sputtered out dumbly, offended at the accusation and annoyed that they didn't even give him chance to explain the situation. "Well you're one to talk," Oikawa bit back angrily, not liking the tone the three of them were having on him, ganging up like Oikawa was some sort of bad guy. It wasn't just Oikawa who fought, Nishinoya did too!

"You guys are the one who lied to Nishinoya and made _me_ take care of him after defeating the Dementor!"

There was silence filling all of them, and Oikawa for a moment felt a short victory after calling them out on their bullshit.

"What?" Turning around, eyes widening only slightly, Oikawa smiled lamely when he saw Nishinoya and Asahi walking together, hand in hand in a very adorable king and queen couples costume. Nishinoya obviously being the king.

"Azumane-kun," Oikawa greeted lamely, throwing Asahi a peace sign and a soft chuckle. "Fancy seeing you two out here."

Asahi was used to the Nishinoya-Dementor story. Everyone's heard it but him, Nishinoya had a lion patronus, blah, blah, blah, Asahi knew now that everyone but him has heard the story. He even knew Nishinoya saved Oikawa.

But Oikawa took care of Nishinoya? _Took care,_ took care of him? Or just patted his head and said 'good job' before leaving the hospital wing? Because Asahi was really picturing the latter when Oikawa said 'take care'.

"Bokuto-san?" Nishinoya said in a quiet voice, his crown on his head sliding down, Asahi had to straighten it out. "Is that true?" Bokuto opened his mouth but then closed it, not being able to deny it, but at the same time didn't want to admit it. Asahi wanted to point out how someone really should have told him and let him take care of Nishinoya, but his voice was drowned when Kuroo spoke up.

"There must have been a lot going on, Noya," Kuroo reasoned, walking up to Nishinoya and ruffling his hair, but Nishinoya just slapped his hand away. "I don't care about that," Nishinoya growled, taking a step back and holding his wand to the side of his body. "You guys lied! You said Bokuto-san was the one taking care of me the whole time." With a grimaced, disgusted face, Nishinoya looked over at Oikawa.

"Why would I want a _Slytherin_ taking care of me?"  
"Okay, am I missing something?" Oikawa asked in frustration, stepping in and glaring at Nishinoya hard. "I know we've had our differences, but I've dedicated a lot of my time to your muggle movement, and now you're acting like before when you hated me.""Pfft," Nishinoya snorted, letting out a loud, sarcastic laugh before stepping up onto Oikawa's space, looking up at him with an intimidated look.

"You expect me to believe that bullshit?" Oikawa narrowed his eyes down at Nishinoya, also taking his wand out, but it was weird. Oikawa looked like he really didn't want to fight Nishinoya, a look Asahi hasn't seen before.

"Noya-kun, maybe we shouldn't. Not tonight," Asahi said softly, pulling Nishinoya back, but Nishionya pulled his hand away. "Asahi-san, let me handle this." Nishinoya's voice lowered, standing back, everyone instinctively making a circle around Nishinoya and Oikawa, except for Iwaizumi and Asahi who were holding onto their respective person.

"Noya-kun, remember. You lied to me too?" Asahi tried to guilt Nishinoya out of it for a faster process. "You never told me about the Dementor. You kept that from me."  
"That's different," Nishinoya sighed, not taking his eyes off of Oikawa. "We can talk about that after. Right now it's me and Oikawa."

Asahi was glad to at least say he tried.

"I don't want to duel you, Nishinoya," Oikawa sighed, after Iwaizumi whispered something in his ear and put his wand down. "Look, I don't know why you're acting like this, but you really need to stop it. It's annoying."  
"Aw, are you gonna go easy on me now?" Nishinoya spat out, pointing his wand straight at Oikawa. "Give me your worst."

Asahi didn't want Oikawa to give him his worst. No, he didn't want that at all, in fact, he didn't want it so much, he would much rather he got hurt than Nishinoya. Nishinoya had already protected Asahi enough in the past, Asahi felt like it was his turn to do something for Nishinoya now.  
And Oikawa looked like he was about to point his wand up.

"Wait!" Asahi ran, watching light coming out of Oikawa's wand already. At the last minute, Asahi pushed Oikawa's wand the other way, Oikawa too late to react and Nishinoya the same, simply running after Asahi to stop him. Oikawa's wand redirected though, pointing just past Nishinoy and instead aiming right at Bokuto. This time, Bokuto didn't have time to take his own wand out.

"Bokuto-san!"

Oikawa's and Akaashi's wands clashed. Their spells were indistinct, just a ray of green coming out of Oikawa's, Akaashi's producing blue and when meshed together creating a very bright stream of gold.   
Bright enough that no one was able to see what was happening when their spells clashed.

The bright light zapped in different directions, but the biggest beam zapped right towards the Whomping Willow, dead centre and hitting it like a bullet to the heart. Everywhere else, their spells simply just fell, not really affecting too much. Luckily no one was hit, but a few trees were unfortunately on fire due to being victim to the blast. Everyone was pushed back off their feet though, Oikawa caught Nishinoya, Kuroo had his arms tightly around Kenma and Iwaizumi was protecting Hinata and Kageyama with his life.

Someone really needed to do something about that Whomping Willow though, because it was burnt, broken and now, falling.

"Oh no," Akaashi breathed out softly, looking up at the old, sacred tree. His face was filled with black cinders from the explosion, his clothes partially burnt, but it seemed that his main concern was the Whomping Willow.

Except, it wasn't just the Whomping Willow. It was the whole Ravenclaw Tower.

The bricks were blasted off, half of the Tower burnt down and exposing the insides of each floor and room. Fortunately, there were no students there at the time to suffer from the consequences of the blast, but there was still a big ass hole in the centre of the Ravenclaw Tower.

A big, burning, obvious hole that Akaashi and Oikawa made together.

"You're a Veela?" Oikawa asked in shock to Akaashi, Akaashi nodding his head slowly, still in shock at what just happened. "Part. My grandma," Akaashi said slowly, his eyes not being able to move from the hole in the fucking Ravenclaw Tower. Half the Tower was _gone_.

"Ah, well, for me it's my grandpa. A handsome boy he was," Oikawa said lightly with a grin, looking at his wand and showing the Veela hair chore. "Explains why the spells clashed-""I _know_ why the spells clashed," Akaashi exclaimed, gritting his teeth. "Thank you, Oikawa-san, but I don't need this right now. We-We just broke the school."

Bokuto watched Akaashi's face go from frustration to worry as he looked at the broken Ravenclaw Tower, and soon there would be students who would pile at the Ravenclaw Tower exit after hearing a huge commotion and wanting to see what happened. Then there would be gossip and murmurs throughout the school that Bokuto would have to watch out for.

Except Bokuto would leave after this party. Bokuto would leave Hogwarts.

"I remember," Kageyama suddenly said, uncrossing his arms, getting everyone to turn their heads at him. "I remember now. I remember the school, the-the separation-""The food," Tendou spat out in disgust, smacking his lips. "Yeah. We all do."

Before there could even be a discussion about what happened, a process of the event, all the students were crowding by the doors, seeing what happened and making a big mess of it. Bokuto could already hear their theories speculating of what went on to cause such damage.

And of course, headmaster Akaashi was at the front, a disapproving look at all 16 of them. Raising an eyebrow, headmaster Akaashi went up to them, crossing his arms and sighing heavily, looking from the incomplete Ravenclaw Tower, the dead Whomping Willow, then to the little group who caused it, all of them sharing the same expressions of confused, scared, upset and fake innocence. 

"Again?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, so long! Haha, these break chapters are so fun to write, I hope you enjoyed! I really enjoyed promoting other creators, so I think I want to do it again! So here's some more amazing content creators I hope you guys will be willing to go check out!
> 
> |Hailey in Bookland - A BookTuber! A little bit different, but I love reading and sometimes have trouble finding good books, good book reviews and a strict criteria for a good book, haha! She goes into reviews, summaries, wishlists, hauls and overall, is just a fellow bookworm that you should definitely go check out!
> 
> |salmonfishuu - An artist on Instagram who also loves Haikyuu! She does commissions and actually did one for me of me and my favourite Haikyuu character so obviously I owe her my life.
> 
> |japanese-with-anime - A Tumblr blog that uses manga panels/anime screen caps to help teach Japanese. Perfect for those who plan to learn Japanese and want an entertaining way to do it! 
> 
> Hope you guys check these amazing people out and give them some love! Thank you again and stay safe out there everyone!


	35. Kageyama

Date : October 31 1997

Time : 11:30 PM

Current Location : Headmaster Akaashi's Office

Status : Mission - Accomplished

Kageyama didn't even do anything. He didn't touch anyone, didn't take his wand out, didn't protest, didn't agree. Didn't even yell at Nishinoya to obliterate Oikawa's ass.

So why was he also in the headmaster's office on the biggest night of his Hogwarts career with 15 other boys, 13 of them which also weren't involved in the damage of the Ravenclaw Tower.

"I don't even know where to begin," headmaster Akaashi groaned softly plopping down in his big headmaster chair and looking at the 16 of them while they started forming a line in front of his desk. Kageyaa noticed they were lined up by house, like usual, so that meant him and Hinata were beside each other. It was a bit childish of him to be excited by such a minor thing, especially because he was facing a chance of expulsion, but it did make him happy that Hinata made his way to push Kuroo out of the way so they could stand beside each other.

"I think I'm a reasonable person," headmaster Akaashi started off slowly, giving a deep, disappointed sigh. No one dared speak up for now since headmaster Akaashi hasn't even started what could be the biggest lecture they've gotten.

"I know this divide in the school was big. You miss each other, it's awkward, you don't know how each other are doing. I get it. But did you have to go as far as to-" headmaster Akaashi pulsed his breath, letting out another massive sigh and rubbing his forehead, shaking his head. "You blew up the school. You broke the Ravenclaw Tower." Headmaster Akaashi chuckled in cold disbelief.

"I don't even know if expelling all of you is a good enough punishment."

Kageyama noticed right away that each and every one of them stiffened, obviously all worried about the risk of getting expelled. What would their parents say? Where would they go if they get expelled? Kageyama wanted to be a Quidditch player, sure, but that didn't mean he couldn't just drop out. Plus, he couldn't exactly be a great Quidditch player if he got expelled since his sister would definitely kill him.

"Not all of us blew the school up-""Not now, Tetsurou," headmaster Akaashi huffed, making Kuroo shut up quickly but still pursing his lips and looking around the office innocently. Kageyama was sometimes curious what it was like for Kuroo to see headmaster Akaashi during summer vacation, relaxing and not thinking about work.  
Must be really weird.

"I'm going to start with..." headmaster looked at all 16 of them, picking out which one will start the story, Kageyama guessed. "Sawamura-kun," headmaster Akaashi sighed, taking out a quill, ink and parchment. "Start from the beginning. What happened tonight?"

Daichi looked stuttered out lamely, looking at everyone else before getting pushed to the front by Kuroo and Bokuto. "Oh, well..." Daichi wasn't apart of the duel either and Kageyama didn't know just how much Daichi knew about the situation. It was better than what Kageyama knew though because all he got from tonight was that Nishinoya and Oikawa were still enemies and wouldn't hesitate blasting each other.

"We were watching the Lunar Eclipse," Daichi answered in a dry voice, straightening his back to look a little more confident. "And you so happened to choose the most dangerous spot to watch it?" Headmaster Akaashi rose an eyebrow at Daichi, making Daichi gulp.

"Yes," Daichi answered with a short nod. "To make it more interesting."

Headmaster Akaashi let out a cold, sarcastic laugh, slamming down his feather quill and taking a deep breath, putting his face into his hands. Kageyama had never seen an adult os frustrated before, but he supposed considering how 16 of them were in his office right now, maybe that was something to get a little worked up over.

"Tsukishima-san?" Headmaster Akaashi tried, letting Daichi step back in the line up, Tsukishima stepping forward. "What happened, hm? How did you get out there with everyone. I know you're not the type of person to voluntarily join such a commotion." Kageyama wanted to laugh and agree, but decided that now wasn't the time.

"I..." Tsukishima started saying slowly, glancing at everyone then cleared his throat, straightening himself up like Daichi. "There was Forgetfulness Potion in the disinfectant Minister Faiji gave you."

It was so confident, the way Tsukishima said it. No one expected him to say it so loud and proud, but even Tsukishima himself seemed surprise with his own actions. Headmaster Akaashi looked like he didn't know what to make of it, biting the inside of his cheek and letting out a soft sigh.   
Headmaster liked sighing a lot, Kageyama thought to himself.

"Tsukishima-san," the headmaster said slowly. "If you want something interesting to happen tonight then at least make it believable.""But it's true-""Enough!" Tsukishima's mouth gaped, scoffing and crossing his arms, but he went back into the line up when headmaster Akaashi called up Ushijima next to tell some part of the story.

"Ushijima-kun, I'm really trusting you right now," headmaster Akaashi said in a pleading voice, stressing each syllable. "What happened tonight?"

Ushijima's straight face didn't change at all, looking back at Tsukishima and reaching for the Forgetfulness Potion recipe from Tsukishima's hand. Tsukishima's eyes went wide when he realized he forgot one of the most important pieces of evidence. Ushijima didn't forget though, taking in his hands and handing it to the headmaster, bowing his head shortly.

"I am not too sure but," Ushijima started saying, pointing to the bottom of the sheet where some notes were written down by hand. "Is that the Minister's handwriting?"

The room went silent for a moment, headmaster Akaashi inspecting the paper very carefully. Everyone was stiff in anticipation, you could hear a pin drop with how quiet the room was.

"Dismissed," headmaster Akaashi said swiftly, making everyone shocked, eyes widening and mouths opening to protest, but headmaster Akaashi was quick enough to silence them all with one look.

"I said," headmaster Akaashi paused, staring each one of them down. "Dismissed."

No one talked as they left the headmaster's office, and Kageyama found it really ironic how he was leaving with the same 15 people as last year beside him. It was just this time, not everyone was going back to their dorms tonight.

"How did we remember everything so quickly?" Bokuto asked, looking over at Sugawara. "You said it would take weeks." Sugawara looked back at him, blinking slowly then nodded.

"Prior Incantato."  
"Bless you." Kuroo smacked Bokuto on the top of the head, making Bokuto whine, but honestly, Kageyama was about to say the same thing. 

"It's what happens when two wands of the same chore hit each other with a spell," Sugawara explained, Kageyama getting a bit confused because he hasn't heard of that ever, not even in class, but he guessed that wasn't something that happened everyday either. It sounded like something exceptionally rare. Then again, Kageyama didn't know what his own wand was made of.

"We both have Veela hair chores," Akaashi filled in, Kageyama could see he was holding Bokuto's hand. "Oikawa-san and I.""And when the spells do hit each other," Oikawa continued on. "It reverses the last spell that the wand did. My last spell was ' _Reparo_ ' and Akaashi's was..." Oikawa trailed off, looking over at Akaashi who was looking down at the ground, seemingly deep in thought. However, he completed Oikawa's sentence without hesitation.

"' _Obliviate_ '."

Everyone was back in the Great Hall, whispers around them like wild fire as they walked to an empty table. All the students around them started moving away, probably thinking they would blow something up again. No one wanted to get too close.

"You think we'll get suspended?" Asahi asked quietly, a question that only he thought out loud. "I doubt it," Tsukishima scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back. "Did you see the headmaster's face? Even he knows something's up."  
"What happened to your Phoenix, Yamaguchi?" Kuroo asked, making Yamaguchi jump in his seat but quickly recovered and gave a nervous smile. "Oh, Fireball? He Apparated before we could go to the office."

Kageyama noticed that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were sitting beside each other, but he didn't really see any awkwardness or tension despite Tsukishima insisting that he couldn't face Yamaguchi. They looked pretty normal, and they were even acknowledging each other's presence. What was so complicated that Tsukishima had to run away all the time?

"We're still going back tonight," Tendou sang out, like it was no big deal but no one commented on it. "Sucks. I really hated the food there.""And we're the only ones who remember that you're leaving," Akaashi added with a hiss, glaring up at Tendou.

"Remember? We're the only ones who remember."

So for the rest of the night, Kageyama and Hinata - along with everyone else - tried. They tried to mention the other school, the divide between muggle borns and purebloods. Either a prefect would politely stop them before they could go too far, they would get called crazy or, and this was 9/10 students they approached, they would run out of fear of getting blown up, which by the way was _not_ fair because Kageyama did nothing to contribute to the damage.

Bottom line, the night was filled with a pie to the face and no luck in reminding anyone that they've been brainwashed and taken away from their homes.

"I don't like this."  
"You're telling me," Kageyama scowled as he wiped off the whipped cream on his face from a very scared 4th year Slytherin who didn't want Kageyama's 'grimy Gryffindor hands' on her. Kageyama didn't try to touch her, but that didn't seem to matter.

"I don't mean that everyone forgot. Well, I do mean that, but," Hinata took the towel from Kageyama and helped him wipe the whipped cream, Kageyama staying still for him and closing his eyes. 

"We're leaving tonight, aren't we?" Hinata said, his voice filled with worry that made Kageyama's heart ache. "How is that gonna work? How is the rest of the school year going to be? The Ministry must be planning ahead and now..." Kageyama finally opened his eyes, looking at a tearful Hinata who was trying to hold it in. Kageyama took his wrist, putting his hand down and holding it.

"I'm scared."

To admit fear, Kageyama wasn't one to do it so easily. Hinata being an open person was something Kageyama admired for a long time, though he wouldn't say it out loud.  
Right now though, Kageyama would never question what made Hinata so scared, especially when Kageyama knew that Hinata wasn't only thinking about himself.

"We're going to do something about this," Kageyama said softly, like it was a promise, but honestly, he wasn't sure either. Anything could happen at this point, clearly the whole castle could break if they tried hard enough. In the end, Kageyama didn't even know what Hinata was going through, being a half blood and having to get sent away in the first place.   
So what could he even do in his position to help someone like Hinata?

"You look cute," Kageyama said softly, making Hinata laugh weakly, which was enough for Kageyama right now. "As a cat though. As a cat you look cute.""Yeah, well," Hinata shrugged, rubbing his eyes hard and shaking his head. Even if it was for a few minutes, maybe forgetting about what was happening wouldn't be too bad.  
They deserved it.

"I think Kageyama looks cute whenever!"

Suspicious. Kageyama didn't know how to spell it, but he vaguely knew what the word meant. It meant Hinata joining him at the Gryffindor Tower at the end of the night when they both knew well he wasn't supposed to be here. It meant everyone going back to their Towers without hesitation, acting like nothing was going on. It meant Hinata was sleeping in his bed again, looking like he was about to jump up and sprint around the school out of anxiousness.   
Suspicious. Everything happening was suspicious.

"What do you think is going on?" Hinata whispered as the two of them started changing out of their costumes and to some pyjamas. "Why am I back here?""Are you really complaining right now?" Kageyama said, not looking at Hinata in the eyes because an immature part of him didn't want to let Hinata go back. If he could trick the Minister of Magic somehow to leave the students here, Kageyama wouldn't ask for anything else for the rest of his time at Hogwarts.

"It's not that I'm complaining," Hinata whispered back, pulling Kageyama down so he could whisper in his ear instead. "But what if something happens to me? To Natsu?" Hinata looked around at the other Gryffindors in their dorm, Lev acting like nothing was happening and changing like normal. He was the other Gryffindor in that room that would have to leave with Hinata, but he was being normal as well.

"No one knows what happened."  
"Maybe we can forget this whole thing ever happened," Kageyama whispered back, leaning down to whisper in Hinata's ear. "I would feel better if you just stayed."

Hinata gulped, Kageyama could see his throat bob up and down. "I want to stay too," Hinata said, eyeing Lev but all he did was lay down on his too small bed and stretch like a cat before laying down comfortably. Everyone looked so at peace.

"But I don't think that'll happen. I just don't know how."

The two weren't able to sleep a wink that night, laying in their beds and staring up at the ceiling, occasionally glancing at each other. Kageyama would check every few minutes to make sure that Hinata was still there, and Hinata would sit up and look around to make sure he was still at Hogwarts. No matter what they did though, nothing was easing their conscious.

"Will I go back?" Hinata asked softly to no one, Kageyama not answering the question either. They would find out the answer eventually.

Exactly 5 AM both Hinata and Kageyama saw it. A flash of light poofing in their room, not making a single sound that could wake up even the lightest sleeper. Hinata and Kageyama both shot up from their beds to see Fireball on top of Lev, using his claws to grip onto his arm lightly. Kageyama's mouth dropped open, watching closely to what was about to happen.

"Fireball..." Hinata mumbled quietly, the Phoenix looking at the both of them before Apparating out of the room. "Phoenixes can Apparate."

Kageyama knew they didn't have much time. Him and Hinata got out of bed, not bothering with looking decent before running out of the room and racing down to the common room, planning to take this straight to a teacher. But they weren't even at the door before Fireball came and landed on Hinata's arm, squawking at them as he showed his big wings, flailing them around and getting in Hinata's face.

"No-""Hinata!"

Before Kageyama knew it, Hinata was Apparated out of the common room, probably back to the hell hole of a school, right in front of Kageyama's eyes. And Kageyama wasn't able to do a single thing.

"Daichi-san," Kageyama panted softly, barging into the 6th year dorms and shaking Daichi awake. "Daichi-san. Daichi-san, wake up." How could Daichi sleep after such a huge night? When Kageyama looked around he noticed Kuroo and Kuroo were gone as well, probably Apparated out shortly after Hinata. Daichi was taking a long time to wake up, but finally, his eyes were fully open.

"Daichi-san," Kageyama said again, pointing to Kuroo and Bokuto's beds. "They're gone again. Yamaguchi's Phoenix Apparated them out. I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes, I'm not lying-""Okay, calm down," Daichi sighed, sitting up properly and rubbed his eyes. He looked disappointed.

"I was planning to stay up too but we all fell asleep," Daichi chuckled coldly, shaking his head a bit. "Ah. I wish I saw what you saw.""Daichi-san," Kageyama groaned, crawling onto Daichi's bed and coming face to face with him, his angry expression taking over but he wasn't angry. Kageyama was just really worked up and wanted to see Hinata again and make sure he was safe.

"What do we do?"

Daichi looked surprised that Kageyama was so ready and determined to do something about this, but maybe Daichi didn't understand just how much Kageyama loved Hinata. To keep him and Natsu safe was a bigger priority than anything else - Quidditch, sleep, grades. Kageyama wanted them back home where he knew they weren't being forced to be something they weren't.

"First," Daichi started saying slowly, getting Kageyama's attention right away. "We sleep."

Kageyama stared at Daichi shocked, thinking he would have been a little more active considering just how many Gryffindors left, but it seemed Daichi was serious. He was lying down right in front of Kageyama.

"Wha-What do you mean?" Kageyama shook Daichi again, more aggressively this time. "How can you sleep at a time like this? Shouldn't we be doing something?"  
"Like what, Kageyama-kun, please tell me." Daichi looked annoyed all of a sudden, which wasn't new for Kageyama, but it still took him aback. "You want to take it to the headmaster? He's already pissed off with us, and right now it's god knows what time and you want to barge into his room like we own the place, spitting out things he won't believe? Is that what you wanted to do?"

That was exactly what Kageyama wanted to do.

"We won't get any messages across by acting rashly." Kageyama would have to ask Tsukishima later what 'rashly' meant. "So go to sleep and make sure you have a lot of energy tomorrow."

Kageyama watched as Daichi squeezed his eyes shut, throwing a blanket over himself. It was shocking, and Kageyama thought a little absurd to have Daichi not doing anything, but he did see the point. Nothing good would come out of having a hothead in a situation that needed to be dealt with patience. Unfortunately, 'patient' wasn't a good word to describe Kageyama.

"Daichi-san," Daichi let out a frustrated sigh but before he could say something Kageyama continued.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Daichi's eyes snapped open, looking at Kageyama suspiciously, but Kageyama was looking down, fiddling with his fingers. "Because I don't want...I don't-" Kageyama coughed, looking up at Daichi, his face red and neck burning.

"I don't want anything to happen to you either."

Kageyama hated saying things like that, but he supposed just for tonight was fine. Everyone deserved a little more than what they were getting this school year. "Of course," Daichi said, motioning to the bed next to him. "You can sleep there."

Thankful, Kageyama walked over to what was Kuroo's bed, laying down awkwardly and staring up at the ceiling. He could feel Daichi's stare on him, making Kageyama gulp but didn't look back because of how embarrassed he was for asking. Kageyama wouldn't admit it, but he was terrified. Terrified for what would happen to Hinata, to him - to Hogwarts.

"Night, Kageyama-kun." Kageyama debated for a solid minute if he would respond.

"Goodnight. Daichi-san."

The next morning, or maybe it was more accurate to say later that morning, the 16 - what was left of them at least - were heave eyed, sleepless, exhausted and cranky. Without saying anything, the 8 of them sat together at the Gryffindor table. For the first half of breakfast, it was silent between them all.

"Did we all see the Phoenix?"  
"What Phoenix?"

That discussion would come up again, but for now everyone was still processing what had happened. They were all probably doing recaps in their mind, or at least Kageyama was, and now trying to piece together what they should be doing next.

"Does anyone else remember?"

The 8 of them turned their heads to see all the purebloods acting normally, and if Kageyama listened hard enough, there were even some students talking about the Halloween party. But it looked like no one was talking about the separation.

"Maybe there's more Forgetfulness Potion," Kenma guessed, all of them turning back to the table and sighing at the same time. Life was complicated. Adults were complicated.  
Why couldn't everyone just get along?

"The question now is what are we supposed to do?" Oikawa said, and from the looks of it him and Nishinoya had made up because they were sitting next to each other now. Kageyama thought they were an odd duo, but obviously together they were unstoppable in anything. Hell, if Akaashi didn't step in they would have probably blown up the whole school.

"How's the Ravenclaw Tower?" Daichi asked, getting the Ravenclaws attention. "You guys fixed it?""Our detention is having to fix it," Oikawa grumbled, pushing his plate of food to the side and shaking his head. "Without magic." There was silence again, a few shifting here and there but all in all, it seemed like no one was up for conversation.

"A lot of the detentions involve no magic," Nishinoya pointed out, and of course he would be an expert in that department. "Clean this without magic. Do this without magic. Like we depend on magic with our lives."  
"Well," Daichi shrugged. "We do."

Kageyama never noticed because he was raised with a pureblooded family, but it was true. He never thought about what he would do if one day he woke up without magic, what would he do.  
He never thought about it until now, at least.

"Hurry and fix it then," Kenma said, looking at both Oikawa and Akaashi. "Or else we're going to be sleeping with a draft for a while."

It was weird for Kageyama. This was the first time ever he was laughing with a group of people.

"Ah shit," Kageyama cursed as he spilled his ink on his wrist, huffing as he reached for a towel to wipe it off. Tsukishima gave him one, not even looking up, almost as if he was expecting Kageyama to mess up eventually.

"You're calm," Kageyama mused as he wiped the ink off of his wrist. The two of them, Kageyama and Tsukishima, were in the library, doing an essay together for History Class. Mainly Tsukishima was doing all the work, but Kageyama was really trying his best this time, actually taking notes and practising his writing. Tsukishima made sure he pointed out every little mistake though.

"What do you mean?"  
"I mean," Kageyama scowled, glaring at Tsukishima for his irritating ignorance. "After the events of what happened last night. You're awfully calm, even if Yamaguchi just left." Tsukishima stared at him blankly before shrugging nonchalantly and looking back at his essay.

"Why should I get worked up over it?"

If Kageyama had the patience to make a list about things he hated about Tsukishima, this would be at the top. His lack of compassion and drive for anything. Everything Tsukishima did, it was like he didn't care, whether it came to Quidditch or his friends. Even school, which Kageyama thought at least that much he would care about, wasn't something Tsukishima felt anything for. He just did it, it was just a luck that he was good at studying.

"Because he's your _friend_." Kageyama growled, not liking how Tsukishima looked like he didn't even hear him. "Because he would get worked up over you if the roles were reversed."  
"Well that's his problem, isn't it?" Tsukishima bit back coldly, making Kageyama stiffen a bit, but he'd rather a reaction like that than nothing. "What do you mean?" Tsukishima let out a deep sigh, shaking his head a bit, putting his quill down and leaning back on his chair.

"Look. I know your small brain can only hold so much information at a time," before Kageyama could say anything, Tsukishima cut him off, "but listen carefully. Sometimes in this world there are people that you're stuck with." Tsukishima gave Kageyama a sarcastic smile.

"To me, Yamaguchi is one of those people."

For a good minute or so, Kageyama stared at Tsukishima, unsure what to say. He wasn't friends with Yamaguchi, but he didn't mind him. Yamaguchi has leant him a quill during class a few times, and it wasn't like Kageyama hated him. He was a nice person. How could Tsukishima say something so cruel when all Yamaguchi has been doing this whole time was be a good friend.

"You're lying," Kageyama said bluntly, making Tsukishima's eyes widen but Kageyama didn't give him enough time to defend himself.

"I still stand by what I said. You're a pretty shitty friend," Kageyama chuckled softly, making Tsukishima scowl but he didn't argue and let Kageyama continue what he wanted to stay. "But I thought it was weird. You don't treat me the same way you treat Yamaguchi even though you actually hated me to begin with. So either you have some dumbass baggage you need to get rid of, or Yamaguchi really doesn't deserve a friend like you."

Kageyama wasn't one to give advice. But he felt like putting it out there for Tsukishima was important, letting him know that even in the eyes of someone like Kageyama, what Tsukishima was doing was a shitty move.  
Because Tsukishima was his friend too.

"Well, Your Highness," Tsukishima sighed, pushing his glasses up as he leaned back on his chair. "You'd be the hundredth person to tell me that."

Of course, Kageyama wasn't able to concentrate on anything anymore, even more so than usual at least. Because of how preoccupied his thoughts were he's been more clumsy than ever, bumping into everyone, spilling inks of quills, dropping his books out of nowhere. His head was in the clouds and now his body wasn't listening to him.

"Ow-"  
"Sorry," Kageyama huffed, that being the maybe ninth or tenth apology he had to say that evening. It was getting annoying, so now the apologies were sounding less and less sincere, but Kageyama couldn't help it. He was sorry, but he was getting tired of saying it.

"Oh, Kageyama," Kenma's voice rang in Kageyama's ear, making the 4th year stop and bow suddenly. "Kozume-san!" Kageyama respected Kenma a lot, so he always tried to be polite around him. Any senior really, Kageyama would try to be as respectful as possible, but ever since last year when Kenma raged at him and Tsukishima, he couldn't help but be cautious to not get on Kenma's bad side.

"Where are you going?"  
"Me? Oh, uh," Kageyama could never get used to Kenma initiating conversation. "I-I'm on my way to the Gryffindor Tower.""Okay." Kageyama thought that would be the end of the conversation.

"I'll walk you."

So now, Kageyama and Kenma were walking together in the hallways, Kageyama's hands filled with papers and books that he was praying wouldn't drop, and on Kageyama's end, a very stiff and awkward walk he was doing. Even though Kenma probably didn't feel awkward and had even been the person who offered to walk Kageyama to the Gryffindor Tower, the thought of Kenma suddenly thinking Kageyama was lame made his stomach turn in a weird twist. Possibly because Kageyama really did respect Kenma and considered him someone important because he was important to Hinata.

"Uhm," Kageyama coughed awkwardly, wanting to make at least a little bit of conversation. "So, uh, the separation...""Is happening." Kageyama flinched at the blunt completion. Of course it was happening. Kageyama wanted to smack himself in the face.

"What-What do you think of it?" Kageyama tried, hoping to get a more complex answer from Kenma, and maybe even a conversation that Kageyama never got last year.  
"What do I think?" Kenma repeated, looking up at Kageyama. "What do _you_ think of it?" Kageyama opened his mouth then closed it, unsure how he was supposed to answer that.  
That closed the question up quickly.

"Gryffindor Tower," Kenma said, standing at the bottom of the stairs, nodding his head up at the doors. "You're okay bringing those books up by yourself?""Huh? Oh-Oh yeah, thanks," Kageyama cleared his throat, bowing to Kenma before he started to walk up by himself.

"Kageyama." Kageyama turned around right away when Kenma called out his name, waiting to see what he wanted. "Watch where you're going next time. Got it?" 

Kageyama's cheeks went pink, nodding his head and bowing one last time before racing up the steps, tripping on the last step and stumbling a bit but he caught himself before he could make a fool of himself. Thankfully, he made it to the common room successfully. He would never talk about that interaction every again and do his best to not think about it either.

"Kageyama-kun?" Daichi noticed Kageyama came in, and Kageyama was a bit startled to see Daichi, Ushijima and Oikawa standing in the middle of the Gryffindor common room together. It looked like they were in some sort of meeting.

"The headmaster wants to talk to you," Ushijima said, pointing to the door and indicating Kageyama needed to leave again. "Wh-What?" Kageyama didn't even get a chance to put his books down. "Why me?""I didn't ask," Ushijima said, walking to the door and opening it for Kageyama. "He just wants to see you."

Kageyama wanted to talk back, but Daichi gave him a look that made Kageyama leave to the headmaster's office without a single sound of protest.

"I'm sorry for calling you so suddenly," headmaster Akaashi said with an apologetic smile tightening the corner of his lips. "But I'm doing this with everyone who was involved during Halloween."

Kageyama wanted to laugh and get out of the office. He was already getting anxious being in the presence of an authority figure that had the power to kick him out of Hogwarts, he didn't want to answer questions about a night he was barely apart of. Alas, he couldn't leave so easily. He stayed in his seat, back straight and his whole body stiff, unsure where to look. Headmaster Akaashi pushed a plate of cookies in front of Kageyama, motioning for him to take some.

"You can have some if that would make you more comfortable." Kageyama didn't know if it was an advantage or weird that the headmaster was also a father. Possibly both.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase," headmaster Akaashi said as soon as Kageyama took a cookie, and now he felt silly for not seeing it earlier that the cookie was bait. "Headmaster, I really-""Please, Kageyama-san." Headmaster Akaashi was a reasonable person, Kageyama couldn't deny that. But the vibe he was getting in the room, he really wanted to get out.

"I just want to ask a few questions. If you don't want to answer, then how about you don't. Does that sound fair?" Kageyama slowly nodded his head, feeling that was a reasonable request. In fact, that was perfect. Technically he wouldn't have to answer anything if he didn't want to.

"But if you do answer," headmaster Akaashi continued on, "I want it to be the truth only. Okay?" Kageyama opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't think of anything. That seemed like a fair enough deal. If he didn't want to answer, he didn't have to. Headmaster would get the information he wanted if Kageyama did answer - it was a win-win.

"Alright then," headmaster Akaashi went on, giving Kageyama a soft smile and taking a cookie for himself with one hand, and with the other a quill and ink as he wrote a few things down first.

"First question," headmaster Akaashi started off, underlining something. "Did you sneak out and visit the other school Hinata-san is staying at?"

Kageyama choked on his cookie, headmaster Akaashi's eyes widened and quickly used his wand to get a glass of milk, giving it to Kageyama to drink and patted his back. Kageyama wasn't calmed down by the soothing rubs on his back because his mind was too preoccupied with the thought that headmaster Akaashi ultimately knew that Kageyama snuck out that night and say where Hinata was staying.  
So he pretended like he was still choking even after he swallowed.

"Kageyama-san," headmaster Akaashi sighed after 3 minutes of Kageyama continuously coughing, badly acting out a choking person, but he really didn't want to answer. Not answering would just give it away too though. But he couldn't pretend to choke forever, so Kageyama drank his glass of milk very slowly until it was empty, looking at headmaster Akaashi over the brim of the cup then put the glass down once it was empty. He stalled for about 5 minutes, but it looked like headmaster Akaashi wasn't letting him go.

"Kageyama-san," headmaster Akaashi said slowly, leaning forward and giving Kageyama a warm look. "Did you visit Hinata-san over these past 2 months during the separation?"

_Tobi-chan,_

_I'm surprised you wrote to me. I'm glad though, we haven't spoken since the Spring Festival. I hope you're doing well and eating properly. I heard your grades have been improving, which is impressive. I always knew that you were a bright kid._

_I'm sorry I couldn't make it for the summer holidays, work was really keeping me. I wish I could have been there though. You don't understand how much I miss you and Japan. I hope you spent it well though, and I'm sure you had a few friends to keep you company. You're talking nicely, right? I know you'd be very popular if you just smiled a little bit, okay? Promise me you'll stop scowling!_

_Hmm, I don't know if I know much about muggles. There are quite a few here in Paris, but all I've been working with are wizards and witches. I think my next article can be about muggles though, if you're interested. Nowadays they are so controversial though, so even if I get a ton of buys, not everyone would like my work. I know that there had been a lot of articles in the Daily Prophet these days though, grandma sends me clips whenever she writes to me. I'll look into muggles in Paris for you and get back to you when I can. Hopefully I'll find something interesting for you._

_Have you visited grandpa's grave? I think I can make it for the half-year, but I'll have to go without you since you have school. Since you're in your 4th year, grandma says you're old enough to stay at Hogwarts and miss the anniversary now. I think so too. I hope you'll be okay with that since I know how you must feel when the date passes, but I trust you'll stay strong. You're becoming a man, Tobi-chan!_

_I can't wait to meet your friend! Hinata Shouyou - very similar to our names, don't you think? Maybe that's a sign! He's the first friend you've talked about with me, so I think I'll like him no matter what kind of person he is. From your description though, he's not someone I would've thought you would want to be friends with. I'm glad though, and I hope you learn many things from Hinata-kun._

_Speaking of your friends, I met someone recently and he says he has a little brother your age. Apparently he has a brother as well - Tsukishima is the family name. Do you remember the Russian family, Haiba? We met as a group and now work in the Japanese Translation group together. Tsukishima Akiteru-san had joined just recently. Perhaps you two know each other already? His brother's first name is 'Kei'._

_Even though I wasn't able to make it for the summer holidays, I'm planning to come back for Christmas. So go home this year, okay! I know you weren't able to last year, but don't worry - this year we'll be a family! I'll even make your favourite, okay? I can't make it like grandpa, but hopefully it will at least barely make your standards. If your exam results are good, I'll buy you something nice from Paris. Should I buy your friend Hinata-kun something as well? Let me know what he likes so I can look for it._

_Anyway, I'm doing well here in Paris. I really love my job, thank you for asking. I'm hoping to go to Hungary next (a beautiful place with lots of dragons!) and hopefully I can get lots of article information there. I really want to take you here too, Tobi-chan. When you're older and I know more about the countries here, I'll be sure to take you!_

_I can't wait for your next letter. Stay safe, eat healthy and talk to lots of people this year! And study!!!_

_~Miwa-nee-chan_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! Some more content creators I would like to recommend :
> 
> |hitsuki_kurohebi - An artist on Instagram that does lots of styles and open content. They did a commission of me as Kenma that was crazy amazing, so I think that says enough.
> 
> |katherine.kmp - I found her on TikTok but she is on Instagram as well (Instagram Username : phanmailco). She makes these adorable embroidery sweaters with the Haikyuu (and other anime characters) silhouettes on them and I really want to and planning on buying them! Go support, her creations are adorable!!
> 
> |kikogoma - A Tumblr account that teaches Japanese! It does little phrases/words/grammar points per post and is very easy to follow + gives examples which I always found hard to find for some reason ⋆ටᆼට⋆. I recommend to go check them out!
> 
> Those are the creators for now! Thank you again and have an amazing day!


	36. Tsukishima

Date : November 3 1997

Time : 7:38 PM

Current Location : Slytherin Dormitory 

Status : Mission - Accomplished 

"Dad-No. Father," Tsukishima said firmly, puffing his chest out and standing tall and confident, the way he would talk to literally anyone else. "I have something to tell you. And you're going to listen to me." Taking a deep breath, Tsukishima built up all the courage he had inside him, a little bit of a paragraph he had memorized for himself and of course, a serious tone so that his dad would actually believe him.

"I am in love with a boy. A-And I know you don't approve - you've made that _really_ clear over the years - but I need you to understand that I'm not some deviant that is straying from the right path, or less deserving of your respect. Just because I fell in love with a gender you don't happen to approve of for me doesn't make me any less your son. Just as you being homophobic doesn't make you any less my father. So, what I'm trying to say is, I hope you can look past this. I'm not asking for you to understand, I'm just asking for you not to treat me any less as how you treated me before."

Tsukishima was a pretty easy person. He didn't ask for much. He didn't ask his parents for an abundance of money, he didn't shout for the newest broom, he didn't even get bothered when his parents asked him to do something for them. He was a good son, relatively, and didn't stir up too much trouble.

"Who? Ya-Ya-" Tsukishima cleared his throat, squeezing his eyes shut and gulping, doing his best to continue on, but coming out wasn't as easy as everyone claimed it would be. 'Just do it,' Kageyama said. 'What's the worst that can happen?'.

"Yamaguchi! I'm in love with Yamaguchi!"

Saying out loud was different than internalizing it, only for Tsukishima to know. He hasn't even said it to Yamaguchi yet! How annoyed would Yamaguchi be if he found out Tsukishima said 'I love Yamaguchi' to his dad before Yamaguchi himself.  
Knowing Yamaguchi, probably not that annoyed if it was Tsukishima.

"Yes. I'm in love with Yamaguchi," Tsukishima said, feeling like a weight lifted off his chest and the world was a breath of cold air after being stuck in a furnace for a thousand years. Tsukishima hasn't felt so free before.

"I'm in love with Yamaguchi and I want you to not judge-"  
"What are you doing?" Tsukishima yelped, jumping backwards as Goshiki entered the room. The toad Tsukishima was practising with jumped as well, on the table and out the window. Tsukishima cursed as he tried to catch it but it didn't work and there went Father-Tsukishima-Toad.

"Knock next time!"  
"It's my room too," Goshiki scoffed as he walked in, shutting the door and taking his robes off. "What were you up to?"

Admitting that Tsukishima was practising coming out with a toad was definitely bullying material, so he decided to do what every normal teenager did and lie. "I was doing Transfiguration."  
"Ooh, can I see?" Goshiki asked excitedly making Tsukishima roll his eyes. "The toad got away. I can't do it anymore." Goshiki pouted, but nodded his head as he went to get a mirror and sat down on the bed beside Tsukishima.

"Alright, alright, don't get toads up your ass, you tit-wad," Goshiki chuckled, giving the mirror to Tsukishima. "Hold this. I'm going to cut my bangs."

Begrudgingly, Tsukishima held the hand-held mirror, making it face Goshiki as Goshiki took his wand out, choosing where to cut his bangs from. Apparently because of how much Tendou told him his bangs were cool, Goshiki continued to cut his bangs in the same angle, the same way every time.

Tsukishima didn't have the energy to tell him that literally everyone else hated them. Besides, who was Tsukishima to get in the way of Goshiki's happiness.

"I'm thinking about dying my hair," Goshiki said suddenly, trimming his bangs, letting the hair fall on the ground that Tsukishima knew Goshiki would clean up after or else there would be problems. "Red. Like Tendou-san's."  
"But isn't Tendou-san's hair actually red?" Tsukishima said. "What if it doesn't come out good?""I'll have to ask Tendou-san," Goshiki smiled, ruffling his bangs as he finished trimming them, then started to clean up his hair. "I'll ask him which shade would suit me the best."

It clicked a little too late, but it seemed that Goshiki did remember Tendou. And Tendou wasn't at Hogwarts right now - no one who transferred during the school year was there anymore when Tsukishima woke up - so that meant he had to remember at least a little bit from last night during Halloween.

"Goshiki-kun-""I'm gonna go throw this out," Goshiki cut Tsukishima off before he could talk, taking the hair that fell on the ground and started to leave the room. "Shirabu-kun is waiting for me downstairs. I'll see you later, Tsukishima.""Wait!" But Goshiki closed the door already. One day, Tsukishima would strangle Kageyama for making him slower in life. Not today, but one day.

"Latin. English. French." Tsukishima sometimes wished people would read in their heads. "Latin. English. Russian?" Really. Reading out loud was a headache. Why did people do it? "Latin. English. Finnish-""Oh would you shut _up_ already?" Tsukishima growled, taking the book away from Kageyama and throwing it at him, making Kageyama grunt but he caught it anyway. "Can't you read in your head?"

Studying with Kageyama ended up becoming a habit, and now, Kageyama couldn't study without a person helping him. It was better it be Tsukishima since they were learning the same things, but Tsukishima really wished that Kageyama was a little bit more his speed.

"Is that how you two treat each other?" Akaashi said in disapproval, looking between Kageyama and Tsukishima. "Trust me, it was worse when they weren't friends," Kenma commented, not looking up from his Gameboy, which Tsukishima learned was also a very loud and annoying device that he wanted to stomp on right now because he's asked Kenma a hundred or so times to turn the volume down. Apparently Kenma has a 'better chance at winning' when he can hear the game.

Akaashi and Kenma joined when the pairs bumped into each other before going to the library. However, the library was full and since everyone planned on studying, the agreed to study in the Ravenclaw common room.  
Which, in Tsukishima's opinion, was way more blue than it had to be.

"I remember it better if I say it out loud," Kageyama surprisingly didn't blow up back at Tsukishima, instead answering calmly in defence. "If I just say it in my head it doesn't stick as well."  
"What are you even studying?" Tsukishima sighed in exasperation, taking Kageyama's textbook. "How is this Astronomy?" Tsukishima asked, giving Kageyama back his book. 

"It's the charting of the stars," Kageyama shrugged, showing Tsukishima what he was reading. "I was studying the different origins and such." Tsukishima held in a groan, just nodding his head because he could see Akaashi's stare on him. He decided to just play it safe and pretend that he wasn't bothered by the constant noise filling his ears. Tsukishima didn't want to get on Kenma's bad side either.

"Are we never going to address the elephant in the room?" Kenma sighed, putting his Gameboy down after 30 minutes of 'studying'. Tsukishima realized it was just because the power in the device died.

"What elephant?" Kageyama asked, looking around the room, Tsukishima wanted to laugh. "Not a literal elephant, you dunderhead.""Hey," Akaashi tsk'ed, making Tsukishima admittedly flush at being treated like some sort of child.

"It's an expression, Kageyama," Akaashi explained. "Kenma is saying there's a problem we need to address." Tsukishima wondered how Kageyama could look so indifferent when he was stupid.

"Halloween. Muggle borns. That doesn't ring a bell?" Kenma said, making everyone glance at each other because they _were_ all thinking it. It's been keeping them up, distracting them from their day-to-day tasks, occupying their thoughts. They were all concerned.

"It was like the Forgetfulness Potion never happened," Akaashi scoffed, shaking his head. "I don't know what's up with my dad.""He's trying his best," Kageyama said, a little too quickly that it made everyone turn to him, staring at him curiously. Even Tsukishima wasn't sure what Kageyama meant by that, and these days, Kageyama has been quite transparent with him.

"You know what my dad's up to?" Akaashi asked, raising an eyebrow at Kageyama. "Kageyama?" Kageyama turned red, nodding his head slowly, pursing his lips before looking up at everyone staring at him.

"He called me in. Asked me questions," Kageyama started saying slowly, Kenma nodding for Kageyama to continue. "He said he needed evidence. Evidence to take down the Minister of Magic and he needed as much information as possible. So he's calling in any students, as many as he can, that might have information on what's going on in the other school. I was one of them." Kenma looked over at Akaashi, like they had just discovered something together, but Tsukishima couldn't read their faces well enough to determine if it was a good or bad thing.

In times like this, Tsukishima really wished he had a different dad.

Either sleep was for the weak or Tsukishima didn't want to wake up for the next hundred years. The next morning, it was the latter.

After an impossible studying session with Kageyama that ended in inevitable fighting, Akaashi scolding the both of them and Kenma asking Tsukishima if he knew what a battery was and if he could get some for him, Tsukishima was pooped out. He didn't want to be waken for anything, not even school.

"Oi, Tsukishima-kun," Shirabu called out, kicking Tsukishima's thigh in attempts to wake him up. "Tsukishima. Wake up, we have class." Tsukishima groaned, turning in his bed and waving his hand. If he was absent, he was absent. The headmaster could come and get him for all he cared. Maybe he could ask the headmaster some questions as well.

"Let him be late," Shirabu sighed, Tsukishima guessing he was talking to Goshiki now. "Not like he'll fail the class." Tsukishima wanted to smirk, but none of his muscles were listening to his brain and he was just laying there, motionless, an arm over his eyes and sleeping like a rock.

Maybe an hour passed before the door was slammed open, Tsukishima not moving an inch but he could hear what was going on in the outside world. Then, two big hands grabbed his neck and started strangling him.

Tsukishima's eyes widened, a rush of panic rushing through his body and his blood flowed all the way to his head, making his whole face turn red. His vision was blurry, so he couldn't see who it was, but once he smacked his attacker in the face they let go immediately. Tsukishima reached beside him to grab his glasses to who it was, then whipped a pillow at the intruder.

"Kageyama, you asshat!" Kageyama's smile was one Tsukishima has never seen before. He actually looked...happy.  
Which was obviously concerning.

"I've always wanted to do that," Kageyama breathed out airily. "Now I think I can die in peace.""Die then!" Tsukishima growled, standing up and knocking Kageyama to the ground. "You didn't have to choke me to wake me up!""Goshiki said nothing else was working!" Kageyama yelled back, getting up from the ground and looking like he was about to hit Tsukishima in the face. "You weren't coming to class! I thought something happened to y-" All of a sudden Kageyama stopped when Tsukishima started smirking at him, scoffing cockily.

"Aw," Tsukishima's tone went from angry to mocking in a split second. "Was His Highness worried about me? How flattering." Kageyama scowled, kicking Tsukishima in the shin which was successful in making Tsukishima feel pain, holding his shin as he hissed. "I deserved that."

Kageyama glared down at Tsukishima, then went through his drawers and started throwing Tsukishima's uniform on the bed. "Get ready! We have Charms Class next." Tsukishima rolled his eyes, taking his uniform and throwing them back at Kageyama but Kageyama just whipped them back. "Come to class, you arrogant piss-bitch!""You're getting real creative these days, aren't you, Your Highness?" Tsukishima scoffed, sitting on the bed and watching Kageyama getting his textbooks for him. It made Tsukishima both extremely irritated someone else was going through his stuff, but also confused as to why Kageyama was so persistent to get him to go to class.

"What's wrong with you?" Tsukishima asked in an agitated tone. "Just let me sleep if I want to sleep."

Kageyama was silent for a minute, stopping his whole process but then continued without saying anything. Tsukishima rolled his eyes but started changing. Kageyama would be a baby all day about it if Tsukishima didn't do what he wanted.

"Charms Class," Kageyama repeated, throwing the textbook at Tsukishima, which Tsukishima caught without difficulty. "Hurry up. Apparently today's lesson's gonna be on the exam."

Tsukishima understood why Kageyama wanted him in class with him once the two showed up and everyone was staring at them. And everyone meant _everyone_.

Even the professor had to process a few seconds of Tsukishima and Kageyama's presence before getting the class's attention, now looking to the chalkboard and explaining this class's lesson. Tsukishima and Kageyama sat in the back, a dark shadow practically looming over them and making the students around them shiver in fear. It wasn't like they were going to hurt anyone.

But perhaps, after being apart of a whole fiasco of blowing the school up, it was understandable as to why many of the students were hesitant on being 'buddy-buddy' with Kageyama and Tsukishima. Which, to Tsukishima, was perfect. It wasn't like he wanted to talk to anyone and he didn't want to tire himself out by trying to make new friends in his 4th year without Yamaguchi beside him.  
However, after years of interacting with Kageyama, he knew this much. Kageyama could _not_ , for the life of him, handle social interactions well.

"Summoning Charms are very important for day-to-day use," the professor started off, everyone taking out their textbooks and turning to the chapter they were on. Tsukishima didn't bother.   
"If you are stuck somewhere, only your wand on your person, then a Summoning Charm can save your life. Well, that and maybe the Knight Bus." The class let out quiet laughs, but Kageyama and Tsukishima were still straight faced and unamused.

" _Accio_ dictionary." Kageyama said quietly, pointing his wand to the desk so that the book would land there. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to summon the dictionary. "Argh! Stupid spell," Kageyama hit his wand on the edge of the desk, shaking his head. Tsukishima didn't try the spell, he knew he could do it because he's practised it before. Honestly, coming to class with Kageyama was more charity work than anything.

"You think this can work on people?" Kageyama asked, getting Tsukishima's attention. "Like, if I tried to summon Hinata right now. Do you think it'd work?" 

At first, Tsukishima was going to hit Kageyama on the head and scold him for being a dumbass with half a brain cell. However, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn't know either.  
Could you summon a person with the _accio_ charm? Is a Summoning Charm enough?

"Professor!" Tsukishima raised his hand, getting the professor's attention and even startling him. "Oh, yes. Tsukishima-san.""Is the Summoning Charm powerful enough to summon a person?"

The question got everyone quiet, and Tsukishima was starting to wonder if anyone in the class ever questioned what they learned. Sure, this wasn't Tsukishima's question, but Tsukishima wasn't even paying attention to the class.

"Well, technically speaking, yes," the Charms professor started walking around, waving his wand a bit in thought. "As long as you have a clear picture in your mind of the person, concentration, and a clear voice. I wouldn't see why not." The Charms professor answered, and that was all Tsukishima really needed.

"However," the professor continued. "It wouldn't be advisable. You wouldn't know what that person is doing in the moment. Perhaps they're in the middle of doing their own spell. Perhaps they're in an important meeting. Or perhaps you get distracted and only perform half the spell, and now your person is stuck in two places at once! Not good, not good at all!" Tsukishima didn't need the follow up, but everyone else seemed to be fascinated by the thought of the top part of your body stuck in one place and the bottom part in another.

"So Tsukishima-san, if you're planning to use this charm on someone, I'd advice you don't."

Tsukishima didn't listen in on the murmuring around him, didn't look at Kageyama when Kageyama looked at him. Instead, he went back to his textbook and thought about how much more fun this class would be if they could do more than summon a dictionary.

"My dad?" Tsukishima's mouth went dry. He didn't think he'd see his dad until Saturday, but here the was the deputy headmaster telling Tsukishima that his dad was at the school right now and waiting for Tsukishima so they could discuss matters.

Discuss what matters exactly? Did his dad know something? Did Tsukishima accidentally leave a letter from Yamaguchi out? Or was his dad going to just tell him something about work.

"Your dad?" Kageyama, who was beside him and clearly unaware as to why this was a big deal, said in a curious tone. "Your dad is at the school?" Tsukishima didn't answer, just looking at the deputy headmaster.

"Where is he?"  
"The Astronomy Tower," he answered, Tsukishima nodding and already making his way there. "Oi!" Kageyama called out behind him, but Tsukishima just waved his hand at him. He didn't want Kageyama meeting his dad right now, and maybe ever if that was possible. Especially if Kageyama wasn't ashamed of telling people that he had a boyfriend.

"I'll be back for lunch," Tsukishima said back. "Just go to your next class!" Tsukishima wasn't even sure what class Kageyama had now, but as long as he didn't get followed it was fine.

So Tsukishima went to the Astronomy Tower, wondering what his dad wanted that was so important that he had to actually come to Hogwarts and talk to Tsukishima face to face like this.  
Without even seeing his dad's face, Tsukishima's stomach was twisting in ways it wasn't supposed to.

"Dad?" Tsukishima called out softly as he walked into the Astronomy office, his heart pounding through his ears when he saw his dad's back, turning and smiling softly at Tsukishima. He didn't look angry. He didn't look upset.  
What kind of shit was he pulling now?

"Dad?" Tsukishima said again, walking in the office fully and closing the door. He didn't want any chance that someone would hear them. "What are you doing here?""I can't just see my son because I want to?" The silence Tsukishima offered was enough to answer the question. His dad chuckled softly and shook his head, giving Tsukishima a form.

"The headmaster sent a letter to all the parents to sign. I was just dropping off yours and decided to visit you. Is that a crime?" Tsukishima wanted to say some sarcastic, snarky remark back but bit his tongue. He needed to be on his dad's good side if he was going to come out any time soon.

"Oh. Thank you," Tsukishima took the form, not knowing that the letters were sent out already. It was about the incident that happened on Halloween and the damaged property that, in Tsukishima's defence, he wasn't technically apart of.

"Uhm, dad," Tsukishima called out softly, looking up at his dad, but it looked like he was getting ready to leave. Tsukishima didn't know when else he would have the time when both his dad and him weren't doing something.

"I remember being a student at Hogwarts," Tsukishima's dad hummed, looking out the window of the Astronomy Tower and smiling warmly. Tsukishima has only ever seen that smile twice - in his dad's wedding photo and when his mom made his favourite on his birthday. So it wasn't like it shocked Tsukishima in any way, but it did make him feel unsettled.

"Study hard, Kei," Tsukishima's dad nodded his head, going towards the door, but Tsukishima stopped him. "Dad!" He called out, making his dad turn, raising his eyebrows in expectance for what Tsukishima had to say.

And all of a sudden, Tsukishima couldn't talk. His throat went dry, his mouth numb. His tongue all of a sudden was heavy and he couldn't think out one coherent thought, no less say something that made sense. Tsukishima could blame it on the timing, or the fact that they were in the Astronomy Tower and it wasn't exactly the best place to come out. He could blame it on the fact that all of a sudden his dad was letting out a soft side just from coming by a nostalgic part of Hogwarts and now was getting emotional for reasons Tsukishima didn't know. Tsukishima could say a lot of things and shift the reasoning as to why he pussied out on coming out to his dad.  
But lately, Tsukishima was realizing more and more, blaming something - or someone - else was never the solution.

"Get home safe," Tsukishima ended up saying, letting his glasses fog up and his croaky voice speak for him. "I really miss you and mom."

Tsukishima wasn't sure how Gryffindors did it. How they could be so loud and talkative all the time. How they could have a conversation with almost everyone and feel such entitlement for god knows why. Gryffindors were these courageous, daring people that got along with pretty much everyone, but of course once you get on their bad side there was no turning back so easily.

So it begged the question, how the _fuck_ did Kageyama become a Gryffindor?

"You look like you're about to take a shit," Tsukishima remarked, sitting in front of Kageyama at the Gryffindor table and taking a plate. Of course, Tsukishima got stares and there were whispers here and there, but mostly it was girls talking about how cool they looked standing beside each other. Tsukishima didn't hate the attention, but the way Kageyama's shoulders tensed up every time he heard his name made him feel almost sorry for Kageyama.

"Lunch is almost over," Kageyama scowled as he started eating a plate of untouched food. "I almost left."

Tsukishima decided not to make a comment on how even if he did leave, at least Tsukishima would have the whole Slytherin table to sit with. It seemed that talking about friends and interacting was a sensitive topic for Kageyama. 

"What did you and your dad talk about?" Kageyama asked, stuffing his face with food. Next time, Tsukishima would be sure to go to lunch on time. "Apparently the headmaster sent letters to our parents about what happened on Halloween. They need to sign it or something."

Kageyama stopped chewing, staring at Tsukishima in a mix of confused and blank. It got Tsukishima to stop what he was doing as well, staring back at Kageyama before waving a hand in front of him. "Oi. You okay?" Tsukishima asked, and it did get Kageyama to shake his head and snap out of whatever trance it was he was in, blinking a few times.

"Parents?"

Tsukishima knew nothing of Kageyama's family, their conversation topics having being limited to surface discussions, things that wouldn't make them cry or emotional because they've both quietly agreed that they weren't _those_ type of friends.  
Well, Tsukishima supposed until now.

"Why? Your parents are strict?" He asked, trying not to look at Kageyama's expression so that the answer wouldn't be given away. Kageyama looked as confused as Tsukishima should have been though.

"Parents..." Kageyama huffed as if he were angry, shrugging and staring down at his plate. "I don't have any."

Tsukishima did his best not to stop what he was doing so that his reaction wasn't obvious, but in the end his face gave it away that he felt bad. Even if his dad was homophobic, it wasn't like Tsukishima was in an abusive household. His mom was definitely more understanding, and sure, there were days where he didn't agree with his parents.  
But he had a family. It made Tsukishima want to know more about Kageyama's and if he even had one.

"What do you mean you don't have any?" Tsukishima tried to keep his snarky tone to show that the fact Kageyama didn't have a mom and dad wasn't that big a deal. "Everyone has them."  
"They left after I was born," Kageyama said stiffly, not looking up from his plate. "Only my sister knows what they look like. And my grandparents, I guess. But they don't let me know, so," Kageyama shrugged, leaving Tsukishima with more questions than originally. Kageyama probably had the same questions though.

"My dad is a homophobic prick," Tsukishima said suddenly, making Kageyama's eyes widen, his head tilting back a bit. "What?""My dad his homophobic," Tsukishima said louder, a few people around them hearing in unintentionally.

"And I'm in love with a boy."

If Kageyama could open up a little to someone he hated just a few months ago, then maybe Tsukishima could too. If not now, then when, right?

"I'd rather kiss a slug than go outside with you," Shirabu hissed, taking the toad from Goshiki's hands and glaring at him. "Now quit abusing him! Find your own frog!""We found him together and he's a _toad_!"

Tsukishima didn't particularly enjoy Slytherins either even though he wouldn't have chosen any other house. They were so problematic sometimes and Tsukishima would much rather just close his eyes and lay down on the couch without a fight happening over something petty like this.

"Alright boys, settle down, settle down," Oikawa came in, waving his hands at both of them but at the same time Shirabu and Goshiki hissed at him, startling Oikawa to jump back in shock. "What the fuck?""Stay out of this!" Shirabu squealed, hiding the toad in his hands and running from Goshiki. "Get your own!""We found him _together_! He's ours!"

Tsukishima let out a big sigh, walking up the steps like there were weights on his ankles, shaking his head as he thought about just what Yamaguchi was right this moment. Hopefully he didn't have to deal with stupidity like this.

"Sometimes I want to drown people," Kunimi said suddenly, walking beside Tsukishima up the steps. "And sometimes I want to drown." Tsukishima had no idea what that meant, yet he felt the exact same.

"You're telling me," Tsukishima sighed softly, the two of them getting to their floors and parting ways as if they never talked to each other. Time like this, Tsukishima could see the Gryffindor in Kageyama. If it were Kageyama instead of Kunimi in that situation, Kageyama wouldn't have shut up.

"Ours."  
"Mine."  
"Ours."  
" _Mine_."

Tsukishima inwardly groaned when Shirabu and Goshiki decided to take their argument to their dorm, trying to distract himself by picking up a book. Instead, what he got was more shouting.

"We found Skyler together!"  
" _That's_ your name for a toad?" Shirabu laughed obnoxiously, shaking his head. "You've got to be kidding me.""Tendou-san liked that name..." Goshiki mumbled, kicking on the wood floors in Shirabu's direction. "And you didn't even know it was a toad until I pointed it out! You kept calling it a frog!"

Tsukishima wondered sometimes, why people argued like this. What was the point? What was the goal? What was the benefit if they won? A trophy?

"Maybe if you weren't such a princess that needed attention all the time we wouldn't be having this argument," Shirabu stuck his tongue out at Goshiki, putting the toad in a wet jar. "Now, if you'd excuse me, Mr. Toad and I are going to head to library to study." Shirabu hummed cheekily, shrugging a shoulder as he made his way out of the room, Goshiki gritting his teeth and about to launch himself at Shirabu.

"Why waste your energy," Tsukishima mumbled, flipping a page in his book, not looking up. "Just get another toad. Or steal it from him when he's sleeping. Either way, just please," Tsukishima glanced over the edges of his book at Goshiki then back down. "Be quiet."  
"Oh, Tsukishima! Didn't notice you there." Tsukishima wanted to roll his eyes, but decided against it, figuring that if this were worthy of an eye roll he would've done it unconsciously. 

"By the way, the headmaster wants to see you," Goshiki said as he went to get a jumper, throwing it on. Tsukishima put his book down, raising an eyebrow at Goshiki. "What?""Yeah, that's what Oikawa-san said anyway," Goshiki shrugged, rolling his sleeves up and putting his wand in it. "Told me to tell you when I came up here. Go whenever though, I don't think it's urgent."

Tsukishima wanted to ask more questions, but Goshiki was waving and leaving the room before Tsukishima could even open his mouth. Goshiki really needed to stop leaving when Tsukishima actually needed him there.

"You probably heard from other students what I'm doing," headmaster Akaashi said, folding his hands on his desk and giving Tsukishima warm smile that made Tsukishima's skin crawl. "I hope you don't find this too sudden."

Tsukishima ended up going to the headmaster's office out of anxiousness, not wanting to postpone an interview while thinking about it constantly. He didn't even know which answers to rehearse because he didn't know what the questions would be. All he knew was that the headmaster would ask what he knew, and Tsukishima knew quite a bit.

"Cookie?" Headmaster Akaashi offered timidly, Tsukishima shaking his head. He didn't know what were in those cookies.

"I'm just going to ask a few questions, and if you're uncomfortable answering them then just let me know. I just ask that you tell me the truth." It seemed a little too easy. But Tsukishima didn't have any complaints, so he nodded his head, taking a deep breath and leaning back in his chair. Headmaster Akaashi mimicked him.

"Alright. Tsukishima-san," headmaster Akaashi smiled softly, Tsukishima found it weird that he could see Akaashi's face in his dad. Well, not too weird, they were blood-related. But it made Tsukishima want to open a little bit since the face was so familiar and kind.

"Did you see Yamaguchi-san over the 2 months during the separation?"  
"No."

It wasn't a lie. Tsukishima didn't see Yamaguchi. He saw the _school_ , yes, but not Yamaguchi. Big difference.

"Okay," headmaster Akaashi wrote something down that Tsukishima was desperately trying not to glance at, but he couldn't stop himself from shifting his eyes every so often every time there was a pause or silence between them.

"Now, about Halloween," headmaster Akaashi continued on, surprising Tsukishima a little bit because he thought there would be more questions to the build-up of Halloween. Was the headmaster playing mind games now?

"You said that there was Forgetfulness Potion in the disinfectant that the Ministry of Magic gave to us." Tsukishima gulped as he recalled the night and how he found out. He would always be disappointed at how he found it so late.

"Tsukishima-san, that disinfectant was given to us in confidence. I'm a close personal friend of Minister Faiji, and up till now, I never questioned what he did for the wizarding world." Tsukishima wanted to retort something, but the seriousness in headmaster Akaashi's voice made him hold back. "I know some things that the Ministry does isn't always perfect - the government will never be perfect, that's just how it is. But I always tried to understand, and I want the students here at Hogwarts to understand that what the Ministry, what all authority does, I should say, always keeps the citizens and our people as a priority, and we think about what's best."

Yeah, Tsukishima has gotten speeches like this before. If you replaced 'government' with 'parents', it was the same speech his mom would give him if he tried making a dangerous potion or wasn't allowed to go outside to play with Yamaguchi past dark. 'We do it for your safety,' they'll say. 'We do it for you', they'll tell him. And sometimes, Tsukishima would understand. Other times though, he wished he was an adult already.

"That being said," headmaster Akaashi continue, sighing deeply and looking down, like he was contemplating how he was about to phrase the next few words. Tsukishima hoped he wasn't trying to downsize his intelligence.

"What the Ministry did, adding a Forgetfulness Potion," headmaster Akaashi confirmed with a nod. "That wasn't right. They had no right to give you students - minors - such a thing, and no one deserved to experience that. I'm still looking through it, and I'm asking questions, setting up meetings. So Tsukishima-san, I really need an answer to this," headmaster Akaashi almost looked desperate. How was Tsukishima not supposed to answer?

"How did you find out about the Forgetfulness Potion? Where did you get that handwritten recipe from the Ministry?"

_Kei-chan!_

_We haven't written to each other in a while, huh? Dad said I should send you something. Apparently you don't look well. Is that true? I hope not, but I know you don't eat well so now I'm worried too! Please eat a lot Kei-chan, and don't forget to get fresh air every now and then. Don't be cooped up studying all the time - go outside and play! Fly! Catch a unicorn or two!_

_I'm in Paris now and I met some people that say they have siblings your age. I met a Kageyama Miwa and she says that she has a younger brother named Tobio? Tell Tobio his sister is a very talented woman and he should be proud that they're related. Really, Kei-chan, you'd be surprised at how well her French is! Then there's a Haiba Alisa. She says her younger brother's name is Haiba Lev. They're half Russian and her Japanese is really good. Let me know if you know them._

_Dad says you're on the Quidditch team. I never knew! Well, you don't write so that's understandable. Are you still upset that I left? I tried writing a few times, but you didn't write back. Did you even get those letters? Dad said he'd be sure you'd get this one, so hopefully it does reach you. Even though we're not face-to-face talking, I'm glad that I can write to you. It feels like it's been forever since I said something to you - I'm not even sure what to write!_

_Anyways, how's Tadashi? I hope you guys are still friends. I think he's the only other person outside of family I've ever seen you talk to. I hope you're treating him well because he doesn't deserve any less! Hopefully you two grow healthily together and fine pretty girls to marry! Haha, maybe you're still too young to think about that, but I do hope the best for you and Tadashi's future. I also hope you two remain friends for a long time. I think without him, you would have never done a lot of things you're doing now. But also make other friends! That's important too!_

_Over here in Paris I learned a lot for the articles we're writing in. Muggle Studies was the one that shocked me the most - I've read so much on the history and the impact muggles have on the wizarding world. In a positive way! Can you believe that? History class really took a toll on me. I hope with the information we have now, and the evidence, we'll be able to take it back to Japan and prove a point. Kageyama Miwa-san said that her brother has been asking a lot of questions about muggles lately because the class was taken out of the curriculum this year. That sounds odd, but maybe it wasn't a popular elective. Let's hope you're still well informed about the muggle world though, Kei-chan. It's important to stay cultured._

_What else is there...? Oh, I heard you blew up the school. That sounds like fun! Always wanted to do that, but it turns out you blew up the Ravenclaw Tower? Would have thought you would aim for the Gryffindors, but I guess I don't know my Kei-chan as well as I thought I did. How did you do it? I would love to hear the details and share it with everyone. I knew you were a powerful wizard!_

_I think I have to go now, Kei-chan, but I really do miss you. I'm sorry, again, that I had to leave, but this was something I wanted to do. I don't expect you to forgive me right away, but I hope you can understand why I left. I will come back to Japan eventually, I promise, but right now my passion is in Paris. There are so many amazing things here, so many good people and_ _the food is something that you can't find in Japan. When you get older, let's go together, okay? I would love to take you. Hopefully I will be fluent in French by then._

_That's all for now. I'll be waiting for your reply (will I wait a long time?)._

_Akiteru-nii-san_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! Some more content creators I would like to recommend :
> 
> |woodandwater_crafts - A handmade crafter on Instagram! She does everything on her own and sells little crafts of earrings, decorative items, etc. and they are adorable. I haven't bought them, unfortunately (it seems like she is still fairly new in the promotion process as of August 2020) so I hope you can go support!
> 
> |The Readheads Book Club - A podcast that does it in the style of a book club! I've always wanted to be apart of a book club, but I never had an opportunity （・∩・） so to listen to a podcast that's in the style really helps! I like to talk to myself and pretend I'm apart of the conversation XD
> 
> |skectchy - A TikTok artist who draws these amazing scenes and sometimes AUs. I love their stuff and if you take a look at their content I think you can understand. They have a mix of hilarious, angst and just overall talent!
> 
> Thank you again and I hope to see you in the next chapter!!


	37. Kenma

Date : November 5 1997

Time : 2:54 AM

Current Location : Wrapped in blankets on the bed

Status : Mission - Failed

The Gameboy battery surprisingly lasted longer than Kenma thought it would. Especially when he was playing it day and not, night giving it a rest. At one point it started getting hot, which he wasn't sure if that was supposed to happen so he stuck his hand out the window with the Gameboy to cool it down. It worked, but he would later find out it wasn't because of the cold air, but because he stopped playing it long enough for it to go back to room temperature.

"Are you still up?" Akaashi groaned, rubbing his face as he looked over at Kenma who was aggressively pushing the buttons and slamming it into his pillow. "Go to sleep.""After this level," Kenma mumbled, his eyelids growing heavy but he was so close to defeating the boss. "I'm gonna win-" Kenma died after making the wrong move. Sighing, he restarted the game and began again.

"Come on now," Akaashi sighed, getting up from the bed, the blankets wrapped around him snuggly. Akaashi walked up to Kenma, trying to grab his game but all Kenma did was move over, dodging Akaashi's attempt.

"I said after this level," Kenma hissed, kicking in Akaashi's direction but Akaashi just jumped on Kenma's bed with him, trying to grab the Gameboy. "This isn't healthy.""What are you? A doctor?" Kenma was pressing buttons, doing pretty well for rolling around the bed and dodging Akaashi at the same time. He didn't die yet, but once he got to the final round he would need to find a way to get Akaashi to stop.

"You need to sleep," Akaashi insisted, reaching for it again but Kenma physically got out of bed and started walking around to play his game in peace, Akaashi following like a baby duck. "And I need to sleep too."

Kenma already was a bad sleeper. Staying up at ungodly hours, sometimes not getting a wink of sleep. At least he wasn't sneaking outside anymore, but that was because Kuroo got him a game to play instead. He wasn't exactly sure what was worse - breaking school rules or breaking Ministry rules.

"Then sleep," Kenma shrugged, walking faster as the final boss came up. "I'm not stopping you."

Ever since Kuroo left, Kenma's sleep schedule worsened. Then he found out where Kuroo is staying and now sleeping was an old enemy that Kenma was more than happy to kiss goodbye.   
He couldn't close his eyes without seeing Kuroo suffering in that place, probably trying to keep everyone together like the good friend he was, keeping everyone strong when Kuroo himself needed someone to support him. If only Kenma were there, then maybe he could do something. Out of not wanting to see that imaginative image of his, Kenma just stopped closing his eyes altogether. 

"Kenma, please," Akaashi finally caught up, snatching the game away from him making Kenma hiss again and try to take it but Akaashi put his arm up high so Kenma couldn't even attempt to reach it. "Sleep."

Begrudgingly grumbling, Kenma started to walk over to his bed, flopping down face first and screaming into his mattress. He could practically feel Akaashi's eye roll as Akaashi put the game some place Kenma would eventually find, tucking Kenma into bed and patting his hair.

"You'll thank me for this later."  
"Go fuck yourself," Kenma mumbled, taking the nearest pillow and squeezing, keeping his eyes open and staring straight at Akaashi in attempts to freak him out, but Akaashi looked exhausted. Kenma even would have preferred constant exhaustion over not being able to sleep at this point. He didn't want to use a potion and games obviously were out the window.

"Kuroo-san is fine," Akaashi mumbled, Kenma looking over at him again and raising an eyebrow. Was it that obvious he was thinking about Kuroo? "Trust me, I worry about Bokuto-san too but," Akaashi yawned, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head.

"No good will come from worrying all the time."

Kenma didn't get any sleep that night, but he did realize that Akaashi was much more mature than he was. It just made him feel even further behind than everyone else - not just Kuroo.

"Alright, class," the Divination professor - who Kenma absolutely despised for the same reasons everyone did - pepped her class up, putting crystal balls in front of the pairs of students. Kenma had to groan because he hated this unit the most.

"We're going to be predicting the future! Of course, not too far into it. None of you are that advanced - unless, of course, you have the gift!" And this talk of 'gifts' that Kenma felt was just an insult to those who didn't like her class. 'Gift' this and 'gift' that - wasn't it just enough to show up to class? "Let's try a week, or even a few days. That's much more simple, anyone can predict that much." Kenma wondered if she knew that everyone lied on their homework just to get a passing mark.

"I don't have the gift," Nishionya whispered to them. "But I'm sure she definitely has something." Akaashi and Kenma snorted, giggling to themselves, the professor didn't seem to notice though, thankfully.

"This class is so dumb," Akaashi huffed, shaking his head as he pushed the crystal ball away from him. "They should have taken this class out instead of Muggle Studies." Kenma had to agree, but they all knew Muggle Studies wasn't taken out of the curriculum because it wasn't interesting or unimportant. There was a whole other reason that Kenma hasn't been able to put to proper words yet.

"I mean, I guess if you think about it, it _is_ cool to tell your future," Nishinoya looked into his crystal ball, watching as the fog started to form. "I just wish it wasn't so...misty."

The three of them watched other students who were equally as confused, but still took down notes and acted as if this was any normal class. Akaashi looked like he wasn't having it that day and Kenma was so tired but he couldn't even fall asleep in class. Not because he cared about getting in trouble, but because his body just wouldn't let him. It was like sleep was physically impossible for him.

"You three!" The professor all of a sudden exclaimed, pointing at Kenma, Akaashi and Nishinoya, making them all jump in their seats, eyes wide as they stared back at the professor. "What do you see in your balls?" An eruption of giggles spread through the students, the professor ignoring them or choosing not to hear them. Or maybe she didn't understand why they were laughing because Kenma could totally understand if she was a virgin.

"Your future! How do you see it, hm? Nishinoya-san?" Nishinoya gulped when he was picked on, making an uncomfortable expression and scooting away but the professor just came closer.

"Eh, er, well," Nishinoya sighed loudly when the professor wouldn't leave him alone, staring into his crystal ball and squinting, like he was looking for an answer. "I see...that..." Nishinoya opened his mouth, like he was about to say something. Everyone even leaned in, waiting for Nishinoya to say something, to predict the future. Even Kenam, for a brief moment, thought Nishinoya was going to say something insightful.

"I'll lose my virginity before any of you prudes." Most of the class laughed, some of them gave disapproving looks, but Kenma thought it was pretty funny. The professor gave Nishinoya a stern look, pointing to the door.

"We need a talk, Nishinoya-san. About what you're allowed to say in class."  
"Oh, come on Miss," Nishinoya groaned, looking at everyone, a big grin on his face. "You can't tell me I'm wrong. I mean, look at this face," Nishinoya cupped his face, squishing his cheeks. "Aren't I too adorable to pass up?"

The professor's face was red, her whole body shaking. "Now!" Nishinoya rolled his eyes, nodding as he got up and waved to Kenma and Akaashi, them waving back, before Nishinoya stepped out, the Divination professor following and closing the small door, climbing down to the closest hallway where Nishinoya could get scolded. Once there was no teacher the class filled with chatter, Divination work forgotten.

"What would've happened if Nishinoya wasn't lying though?" Kenma wondered, his eyes still on the door even after Nishionya was gone. "What if he did see himself being the first one losing his virginity?"  
"Then the professor needs to learn how to keep an open mind."

It turned out that lectures for Nishinoya lasted quite a while because after 5 minutes passed, the professor still wasn't back with Nishinoya. Regularly, students would be worried. However, knowing Nishinoya and how often he talked back, instead of worrying the students were trying to listen in, pressing their ears on the small door to try and hear a peep, some even starting to use their wands and make some charm to help the walls thin out.

"Did he just call her a pussy?" One student asked. "No, I think he said 'no one wants your pussy'." Kenma felt embarrassed that he could actually imagine Nishinoya saying those types of things to a professor.

"You think we should tell them that Nishinoya would probably tell them what happened if they asked?" Akaashi said, Kenma looking over to the big crowd of overly interested students. He shook his head.

"Not really."

Making friends was still a big problem for Kenma. No matter how many people he was introduced to, no matter how many times he practised in his mind what he was going to say, nothing would ever prepare him for a true interaction with someone he doesn't know well, simply because he wasn't good at socializing and nothing else. It wasn't because he didn't like people and it wasn't because he didn't understand or didn't want to be friends with people.  
He just wasn't good with them.

"Oh, how fantastic," Kenma said sarcastically, his eyes looking down at the dropped books that were knocked out of his arms in the hallway, then looking up at the culprit who knocked into him. "What am I to do now?"

The only difference between the Kenma who wasn't good with people back then and the Kenma who wasn't good with people now was the way he went from not talking at all, to just being plain cold to everyone. Kenma learned to be picky with people, not to waste his breath on those who weren't worth his time. Shouyou was worth all the time in the world, Nishinoya maybe a good 3 hours. Akaashi...was still to be determined, but Kenma knew he was more than a day.

"Are you going to pick it up?" Kenma said, gritting his teeth as he stared at the bleached, blond Slytherin. Their stupid, surprised expression was one Kenma wanted to wipe off with his fist, possibly harder than normal. "I didn't drop them."

Slowly and reluctantly, the Slytherin started picking up Kenma's books while Kenma watched, making sure he even got the papers that slipped out, dusting them off before handing them to Kenma. "Good," Kenma bit back a lot of curse words as he took the books back in his hands, huffing and passing by the person, who he still didn't really know, and continued walking down the hallway where Nishinoya was waiting for him so they could drop their stuff off and head to lunch together. Nishinoya was looking at Kenma with wide eyes.

"What?" Kenma hissed, passing by Nishinoya, Nishinoya following him and eventually walking beside him. "Did he say something to you or something?""No," Kenma answeed curtly. "Why should he?"

Nishinoya didn't ask any other questions after that, which Kenma was a bit grateful for. They both dropped their things off in their Towers before heading to the Great Hall where Akaashi was already sitting, a Daily Prophet in his hand and a concerned look on his face. Nishinoya and Kenma both sat down in front of him, plates and cutlery appearing in front of them as they did.

"You don't look that great," Kenma commented bluntly, Akaashi nodding his head solemnly, sighing like he was holding a big breath in before they arrived. It looked like Akaashi didn't touch anything on his plate.

"Another muggle was found killing a Phoenix," Akaashi said sadly, showing the two of them the article and the photo it came with. It was a small clip of a muggle being arrested with a dead Phoenix beside it, some of the feathers plucked out from it's belly.

"Don't Phoenixes come back to life on their own?" Nishinoya pointed out curiously, but Akaashi shook his head. "That's when they light themselves on fire. This man stabbed the Phoenix through the heart." Nishinoya and Kenma both winced at the visualization, Kenma even shuddered.

"Well," Nishinoya looked at the chicken leg on his plate and grimaced before getting a new plate and putting beef on it this time. "It's not like wizards are completely innocent either. Someone made Azkaban for a reason."  
"The problem isn't the killing," Kenma said, his voice low but they could hear him fine. "It's the fact that muggles know of the magic existence."

Which Kenma never really understood. So what if muggles knew? What would happen? Obviously now muggles are curious and want to use the magic for themselves and get greedy and selfish, but everyone on the face of the Earth was greedy and selfish. What was the big deal if it was muggles instead of another wizard?

"Do you know what Asahi-san's or Kuroo-san's parents are like?" Akaashi asked, making both Nishinoya and Kenma look up. "Because I've met Bokuto's parents, and they know about the wizarding existence. Obviously they aren't quite fond, but I just wanted to know," Akaashi shrugged, giving them a lame smile. "What is it like when a muggle doesn't mind about magic?"

Kenma couldn't say anything about it because Kuroo's mom left once Kuroo got his letter. She didn't approve magic and she certainly didn't approve when Kuroo's dad came up out of nowhere 11 years later saying he wanted his son to go to Hogwarts. Kenma didn't know the details, but he knew a rough outline of the story. 

"Kuroo's dad left him when he was born and his mom raised him on her own," Kenma started saying softly, knowing Kuroo wasn't ashamed of the story. Because it was his story and Kenma accepted him regardless. "And she raised him well. Even though they weren't rich, they lived decently. Until one day, Kuroo's mom got the Hogwarts letter for Kuroo. But she couldn't send him, so she did her best to hide him from the magical world until Kuroo's dad came back and explained that he had to go. There was no option to refuse." Because who would want to refuse going to a school of _magic_. Hogwarts didn't allow a refusal though, and insisted Kuroo went. "Apparently his dad kept getting letters too, so it was either Kuroo went or..." Kenma never asked what happened if Kuroo actually didn't show up for his first day at Hogwarts.

"Isn't Kuroo's family in a lot of debt?" Nishinoya said quietly, like he was afraid of offending someone but Kenma wasn't offended. It wasn't him who was in debt. "Like, _debt_ debt.""Only his mom," Kenma clarified. "Before Kuroo's dad left when he was born she would gamble a lot. She took out loans for Kuroo when she had him, and now owes a lot of people, but she claimed she used it all for Kuroo. Since Kuroo's dad and her never legally divorced, he's bound to debt too and being the person he is, he decided to stay in the muggle world to help pay it off." Kenma gave them both a shrug, picking at his apple pie with a fork.

"But that's Kuroo's business."

There was a silence at the table, Nishinoya and Akaashi drinking in the information. Kenma had to agree, it was quite complicated. But it explained a lot about Kuroo and why he was the way he was.

"Wow," Akaashi said softly. "Kuroo-san is...pretty great."

A shudder of pride went through Kenma and he couldn't hold in a smile as he nodded. "Yeah," Kenma agreed, not looking up from his pie. "He is."

Kenma never understood what the big deal with Muggle Studies was before it got taken out of the curriculum. Muggle Studies was the study of muggles (obviously) and Kenma just didn't see the point of studying muggles when there were literal products of muggles walking around the school and learning magic. But then, Kenma realized, when you started going to Hogwarts at the age of 11, there wasn't much for you to learn about the muggle world, and not enough knowledge to back up your claims of the muggle world not being harmful to the wizarding.  
Kenma was just lucky enough that his boyfriend was smart enough to actually study those things.

"If you're going to steal, at least be good at it."

Kenma jumped when he heard Sakusa's voice coming from the corner, the other Ravenclaw approaching with his eyes narrowed down at Kenma. Reluctantly, Kenma started putting back the Muggle Studies textbook Sakusa kept in the Ravenclaw library - which, if Sakusa didn't want it touched then he should've just kept it in his room - and turned to snarl at him.

"I wasn't stealing," Kenma said, jutting his chin out. "I was borrowing.""Then ask if you're going to borrow. Or else by definition it's stealing," Sakusa retorted back, taking the Muggle Studies book and disinfecting it since Kenma touched it. Kenma would never understand what Sakusa's big deal with germs were, and frankly, he didn't want to ask either.

"What is your obsession with this book anyway?" Instead of putting it back like Kenma hoped, Sakusa took the textbook this time, tucking it under his arm and looking at Kenma. "Why do you always want it?"

Kenma scowled at him, not sure if he even understood. Pureblooded Sakusa didn't have any relations to muggle borns or muggles in general, so he wouldn't understand, so what was the point of explaining.

"I want to learn more," Kenma shrugged, trying to leave the little Ravenclaw library before he had to talk even more. "Is that so out of character?""It is when you keep stealing books," Sakusa said, raising an eyebrow at Kenma and cocking his head to the side, stopping Kenma from walking. "If you want to learn about it so badly, why don't you just ask a professor or go to the _actual_ library and take out a book there? Don't steal mine."

The issue with that though, was the books in the library about muggles weren't what Kenma wanted. Sakusa's textbook, the curriculum the 5th years would have learned if it wasn't taken out, went into depth about what muggles and wizards were like in history. He wanted to learn more about the hunting process, wanted to learn about the feud. He wanted to learn if there was anything to do, maybe to help with the mindset of the Ministry.  
Like one Kenma could make a difference.

"I'll think about it," Kenma gave a cold smile, finally leaving that tense room, sighing softly and began walking out, planning to head to the library like Sakusa said. At least a little knowledge would be better than none.

However, when Kenma got to the library, going over to the 'M' section and trying to look up what he needed like usual, there was nothing on muggles. Which was odd - he could have sworn last week he was here and found a good amount of encyclopedias dedicated to the study.

So Kenma checked the 'M' section, the 'S' section, even ventured off to the 'X, Y, Z' section, but he couldn't find anything. He might have teared down the whole room trying to find one, at least one, textbook, book, dictionary, _anything_ about muggles. But there was nothing. And this was the first time Kenma has noticed it. When did they take all of them out?

"Excuse me," Kenma went up to the librarian, getting so desperate as to ask for help. "I'm looking for a book on muggles. I'm pretty sure you had them here last week.""Oh dear, we took those books out on November 1st," the librarian smiled politely, making Kenma's skin shiver. "I'm sorry, what?""Yeah hun, they thought it was a waste of space since there's no Muggle Studies this year. Why'd you need muggle knowledge?"

Kenma didn't answer her question, leaving the library right away feeling shittier than before. He should've just stolen Sakusa's textbook and called it a day.

"What do you mean there's no muggle books?" Akaashi said in disbelief. "I read one last week." 

Kenma shook his head, him and Akaashi sitting together during dinner time, Nishinoya deciding to get himself in trouble again and spending detention in the headmaster's office. It was at the point where there were jokes about Nishinoya seeing Akaashi's dad more than Akaashi.

"I thought so too," Kenma said with a shrug, keeping their voices low so that not too many people heard, especially the ghosts. Those snitches. "But it turns out they took out all of the books after Halloween. Said that we don't even study muggles anymore so there's no point.""But...it's not like we don't study muggles," Akaashi said slowly, and slightly confused. "We do. They just took it out for the year."

Kenma had to think about it as well, opening his mouth then closing it, furrowing his eyebrows. He didn't give it too much thought before, but now he was wondering if Muggle Studies would just never make an appearance again in the school system. The separation was only happening for this year, wasn't it? So what would happen when the muggle borns came back?

"I mean, I guess? I don't know," Kenma sighed, putting a hand to his forehead and shaking his head. "Too much thinking. Don't want to.""Says a Ravenclaw," Akaashi scoffed, but it wasn't because Kenma had to think about a lot. Lack of sleep plus an overdriving brain wasn't a good combination, and Kenma couldn't even put his mind to just one thing anymore without crashing.

"I need to play," Kenma took out his Gameboy, turning it on and ignoring the way Akaashi's jaw dropped. "You just carry it around now?""Uh, yeah. Since the beginning of the year," Kenma shrugged as he began to play the latest level, not caring if anyone heard the sounds his game was making. Those sounds helped Kenma win, so it was small sacrifice.

"You're addicted," Akaashi scoffed in disbelief, shaking his head and snatching the game from Kenma's hands. Kenma whined in protest, trying to get the game back but Akaashi put it in his pocket.

"Come on," Akaashi said, standing up and putting the plate of his barely touched food in the middle of the table so it could be cleaned up. "We're going to library. See if we could find something."

Kenma wanted to argue but in hopes of getting his game back, Kenma followed Akaashi, walking a little faster as they made their way to the library even though Kenma just said that there were no more books. What did Akaashi want to do? Complain? To who exactly, it wasn't like the librarian could do anything about it if the Ministry or Board wanted to take away the muggle books.

"You're not going to find anything," Kenma insisted, trying to reach into Akaashi's pocket to get his game back, but Akaashi just walked to the side, making it out of reach and Kenma scowl.

"Yeah, well," Akaashi walked in, heading straight for the 'M' section like how Kenma did. "I'm taking my chances."

This time, Kenma just sat there, watching Akaashi frantically wreck the place just to find a single book that even mentioned muggles. Akaashi even opened a few history books. trying to find some information, while Kenma just had a face that said 'I told you so' every time Akaashi glanced at him. Other than that, Kenma looked bored and tired and just wanted to get his game back.

"Is that Kageyama?" Kenma said out loud, watching as the Gryffindor walked in the library by himself, awkwardly walking himself to a desk. "He's alone.""Then go up to him," Akaashi said, his voice filled with frustration as he slammed another unsuccessful book closed. "Maybe he has a book on muggles."

Kenma didn't think that was the case, but he did decide to go up to Kageyama and see what he was up to. It was rare to see him by himself in the library, and if he was studying then that would be rare as well.

"What're you doing?"

Kageyama jumped at the sudden voice, looking over to Kenma and sighing in relief that it was just him. Kenma noticed Kageyama had a piece of paper and a quill, but no books out. It looked like he was writing a letter.

"To Shouyou?" Kenma asked, sitting beside Kageymama without asking if it was okay to join him. "Tell him I say hi," Kenma said, leaning his head in to see if Kageyama would write it. "And that I miss him."  
"Oh, actually," Kageyama cleared his throat, shaking his head. "It's for my sister. I'm writing to my sister, I mean." Kenma raised his eyebrows and nodded, a bit of disappointment on his face but he supposed it wasn't odd for Kageyama to want to write to family. In fact, some might say that was normal.

"Nothing!" Akaashi exclaimed, walking over to Kageyama and Kenma, plopping himself down on the chair in front of them with an irriated, flushed face. "Nothing on muggles, not even a sentence. It was like they erased their whole existence!"

Kenma didn't want to be the one to point out that that joke wasn't exactly a joke. It seemed that the Ministry of Magic was trying to do exactly that.

"You're looking for muggle books?" Kageyama asked, surprisingly interested in the topic. "I just asked my sister to send some. They should be coming in within a few weeks.""That's not the problem," Kenma sighed. "There's no more muggle books in the library even though there should be. They took all of them out." Kageyama didn't look concerned by the fact at all. Actually, he didn't even look surprised.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't like anyone was reading them," Kageyama shrugged, making both Akaashi and Kenma narrow their eyes at him.

"What do you mean by that?" Kageyama looked at both of them then shrugged harder, probably feeling like he was being put on the spot. "I mean that no one touched them! It wasn't like muggles were a big topic here. I don't know, when I tried to check one out at the beginning of the year the textbook basically looked new even though this library hasn't gotten a new book in the last decade or so."  
"And how would you know that?" Kenma asked suspiciously because Kageyama had a lot of information for someone who didn't study.  
"Tsukishima just acts like he doesn't like to talk," Kageyama chuckled lowly to himself, a proud smirk on his face. "But really he likes to run his mouth miles and miles. He's not as cool as everyone thinks."

Kenma and Akaashi looked at each other, then at all the books the both of them went through. Bitter, dry and cold - that was the only way Kenma could laugh.

Kenma liked flying. He was able to get somewhere without having to move. His broom did all the work and all Kenma had to do was sit there and occasionally move it a bit to the left or a bit to the right so he could turn.

Kenma liked flying, but he didn't like Quidditch.

"Watch out, Kenma!" It was too late. The quaffle already hit Kenma in the face, straight on the forehead. Akaashi and Ushijima were zooming towards him to make sure he was okay, but Kenma just shook it off.  
Stupid Kuroo. Stupid for getting him into this stupid sport. There was no way he was playing this during his free time. He only went to practices and games, that was it. The rest of his time he would be doing something useful.

"Are you okay?" Akaashi asked in concern, Kenma just waving and nodding his head. "Yeah, let's keep playing.""No," Ushijima said firmly, pointing to the Hogwarts castle, a scarily stern expression on Ushijima's face. "Go to the hospital. You could have a concussion." Kenma rolled his eyes, shaking his head, not thinking it was anything serious. He felt fine.

"Really. I'm okay."  
"Sakusa will take you," Ushijima said, pointing at Sakusa, both him and Kenma equally surprised then unknowingly glaring at each other. "Really," Kenma said, gritting his teeth a bit. "I'm fine.""No. Sakusa hit you, he should take you to the hospital."

Kenma's eyes widened, wanting to ask some questions but Sakusa beat him to the punch. "I hit him by accident," Sakusa said defensively, looking over at Ushijima. "Kenma said he's fine so he's fine."  
"That was one way to apologize," Kenma retorted in a snarky tone, making Sakusa visibly tense up. "Why would I apologize for something that was accident?"

Kenma let out a sarcastic laugh, flying over to Sakusa and glaring at him. "Listen, bench-player-""Okay," Akaashi flew in between them, breaking up a fight before it even started but Sakusa looked like he was ready to throw his whole body at Kenma and not regret a second of it. "I'll take Kenma to the hospital. Just don't get all worked up over nothing." It wasn't over nothing. But Kenma didn't say it out loud.

Akaashi did bring Kenma to the hospital, mainly because Kenma would rather get out of there rather than risk getting murdered by Sakusa because Kenma didn't have the energy to look over his shoulder every few minutes.

"You don't have a concussion, but I advice you don't make any sudden movements for a bit," the nurse said, giving Kenma pumpkin juice and an ice pack to press on his forehead. "You'll be fine."

Kenma could handle no sudden movement for the next few forevers. "Why does Sakusa hate you so much?" Akaashi asked, like he finally let out the question after holding it in for so long. "He's always attacking you in some way.""Is he?" Kenma said with a slightly shocked tone. "I never noticed."

Akaashi still didn't know about the secret Muggle Studies textbook Sakusa had and he didn't think it was important to mention it before. But now that Kenma's tried stealing it about 10 times in the past month, he didn't want to bring it up either. "Maybe because we blew up his side of the Ravenclaw Tower and he sleeps with his ass in the cold air.""I'm serious, Kenma," Akaashi said, his hands on his hips and looking down at Kenma.

"Sakusa isn't a bad person. You shouldn't be treating him like this."

Kenma was tempted to argue that Sakusa shouldn't be acting like Kenma was a bad person since he was the one who was constantly picking fights. Then again, Kenma _did_ try to steal his things more than once despite being told over and over again he wasn't allowed to read it. If Sakusa wasn't so stingy though, this wouldn't be a problem. Kenma just wanted to read a book for crying out loud.

"Oh, by the way deary," the nurse came back to their little cubicle before their conversation about Sakusa could continue. "The headmaster just let me know that he wanted to see you. When you're feeling a bit better why don't you go on and head up then?"

Kenma and Akaashi looked at each other, knowing what being called to the headmaster's office meant. It was Kenma's turn to answer questions, and if he were to know what the questions were it would've made it a perfect situation. However, unfortunately, he as going to the headmaster's office blind and unaware of what they would exactly be talking about.

"I'll go now," Kenma said, getting up, ice pack still on his forehead. "I want to get it over with."

Ever since Kenma became Akaashi's friend, headmaster Akaashi had been talking to him a little bit more, making conversation and such. He's been to the Akaashi residence once for Easter, but Akaashi's parents weren't even there. All he knew was that headmaster Akaashi was good at not being biased, took his job seriously, and loved his son dearly.  
Also, Kuroo was his least favourite out of Akaashi's friends.

"Kenma-kun. I think you know why you're here." 

He also didn't sugar coat anything that often despite being blunt like Akaashi was. Honestly, Kenma could see a lot of features of Akaashi that was probably passed on from his dad and it was a bit scary. Oddly enough, it was effective too. It sort of made Kenma more at ease talking about things he normally wouldn't tell an adult.

"Yes," Kenma nodded as he sat down in the seat, noticing a few treats and drinks in front of him. His favourite apple pie and a few biscuits. Thinking about the food that Kuroo was eating at the other school though, it made him not want to touch it.

"I know you out of the rest of the people I'm interviewing, this divide wasn't much, right?"

Kenma hated this misconception of him and wanted to correct everyone on it. He wasn't an emotionless rock. He didn't not care about anyone. He wasn't cold or arrogant or uninformed or unbothered.  
He just didn't know how to show that he did feel something without being scared of the judgement he was going to face.

"So the questions I'll ask you, it might be a bit more difficult to answer. If you don't want to answer then that's fine, but I just ask if you do answer, please tell the truth."

Take Bokuto for example. He didn't hide anything. Just from his face you could tell what he was feeling, sometimes what he was thinking, and if you couldn't tell then he would tell you himself.  
Akaashi was one of the few people that could actually handle that whole gallon or so of emotion all the time. His loud personality intimidated a lot of people and Kenma has heard a few times that 'if Bokuto was a little more mellowed down then I would like him'. Kenma knew that people thought and talked a lot. He didn't want to be the subject of judgement by people he didn't even know.

"Starting off with a bit of a basic question, but can you tell me a bit more about Halloween?"

So why did Kenma, from time to time at least, need approval from people? He didn't want to talk to anyone, but he wanted people to like him. Actually, better phrased, he didn't know _how_ to talk to anyone. He wasn't sure how to initiate the conversation, he didn't know what was an appropriate greeting, he didn't know how to not be awkward. That's why people like Shouyou were important to Kenma because they were easy to get along with.

Even still, Kenma felt that ever since Kuroo left, his advancement in making friends has taken a few steps back.

"Actually, I hope you don't mind me asking," headmaster Akaashi quickly said after his first question, not giving Kenma enough time to answer. Which was fine, he didn't exactly want to tell his dad's friend that he was too busy getting head on Halloween to realize the build up that happened on Halloween night.

"Would you happen to know how Sakusa-san still has the Muggle Studies textbook with him? All the muggle textbooks should have been gone via the Ministry, so..."

_Kenma,_

_You blew up the school, did you? I'm not impressed. Nor am I impressed in your behaviour lately. Your Divination professor sent a letter about the way you've been acting in class lately and I thought you were much more behaved than that. She says you've also been skipping homework? I sent you to Hogwarts to learn, not to fool around and act like a child._

_Your mother and I have decided that because of the way you have been behaving we have taken away half of your allowance for the week. Which isn't that great since your Hogsmeade trip is coming up, but we have decided that that is the consequence that hopefully will get through to you. What you did was unacceptable and we hope you learn from your mistakes._

_Also, when did you get a muggle toy? Your House Head has written us a letter about you and some sort of box that constantly makes noise? Your house members have complained about those noises constantly to the Head and has asked you to put it away. This is your second one? Where did you get it? Is it from that half-blood boy? Please put it away, or else I will come to the school myself and take it. You shouldn't be playing around with foolish devices anyway. You are at the school to study, not to relinquish yourself in useless muggle items._

_Speaking of that half-blood, how is that Kuroo friend of yours doing? The separation was a hard one I heard and now your headmaster is trying to undo it. From where I am at work I can't tell what's happening exactly, but I guess they're doing some serious investigations. I got interviewed about my bosses and employees that come from muggle backgrounds. Tell Kuroo to be careful, they might be doing something to him too._

_Your mom was not happy when she found out about the Muggle Studies getting taken out of the curriculum. Why didn't you tell her? You know she's the head of the department, she should have been your first thought. Honestly, Kenma, I thought we raised you better than that. Is your head up in the clouds? What has been occupying your mind so much that you can't write a simple letter to us._

_By the way, your grandma wants us over for Christmas this year so NO staying at the school. I don't care what kind of trouble you get in or what they say, you're coming home and that's that. The only reason why I'm not sending you Howler right now is because I'm writing this at work and I don't want to raise my voice, but I hope you can imagine me scolding you right now. Your mother insists that you come to Christmas, so come. Grandma hasn't seen you in 10 years, at least do it for her._

_The Akaashi family also, ask if they would like to join us for Christmas. If they say no, don't insist, but your mother thinks that it would be a good connection. I think she just wants to get the Muggle Studies back in the curriculum and thinks chatting up the headmaster is the way to do it. Don't embarrass the Kozume name and just ask casually. For that, I'll defend you and your mother can chew me out. Just don't be cold about it either. I forget, are you friends with the Akaashi boy? Let me know._

_Please don't blow up the school again. Your mother hasn't stopped talking about it for the past 3 days. Don't misbehave and study properly._

_Father_

_Father,_

_Okay._

_Kenma_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. A few more content creators!
> 
> |Illiterate by ItsJustaDressDummy - A Asanoya fanfic right here on Ao3! It was adorable (it is rated M or E, so there is smut). I thought it was adorable and as the first writer/fic that I recommend, I just had to! It was also really good at portraying the characters without driving on singular characteristics about them which is important to me when writing/reading (i.g. Nishinoya is chaotic, but that's not his whole personality. Or Asahi being a gentle, worrier, but he's so much more!). I recommend! 
> 
> |ryus.sketchbook - An artist on Instagram that is currently (as of August 2020) working on a college AU comic for Haikyuu and posts Kagehina a lot! I love the way they portray their relationship (I'm all about straight forward Hinata!) and of course other ships (Tsukishima x Yamaguchi, Asanoya, etc). And they do Terushima as well, which is perfection.
> 
> |incorrect-hq-quotes - A Tumblr account. The name speaks for itself. Hilarious! (Is it bad I get quite a bit of inspiration from it?)
> 
> That's all! Thank you so much again, stay safe, love you all ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄₎◞ ̑̑ෆ⃛


	38. Akaashi

Date : November 7 1997

Time : 10:54 AM

Current Location : Herbology Greenhouse

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"Gillyweed can make any human breath underwater once eaten. It gives you gills and webs your limbs. Lasts up to an hour depending on how much you decide to consume. It's warned not to eat too much though, for obvious consequential reasons."

"Wouldn' that be interestin'? Meetin' all'em mermaids, eh?" Atsumu commented with a chuckle, making a few other Slytherins laugh. Akaashi could hear it but pretended like they were muted from the world. His least favourite classes definitely involved Slytherins, but he also didn't fancy Herbology too much as a subject in general. It was too boring, wasn't really relevant to him and honestly, getting his hands dirty into a pot of soil wasn't his forte.

"When I hear the things people say sometimes, I remember how much I miss Nishinoya," Kenma mumbled, making Akaashi smile slightly and nod, looking back at the group of Slytherins huddled together. He could see a few of them sneaking the Gillyweed in their pockets, which Akaashi thought wasn't very smart of them. 

"Yer really annoyin', ya know?" Osamu came from the Ravenclaw side of the greenhouse, giving Atsumu a big kick behind the thigh. Atsumu let out a loud yell, turning around and glaring at his twin before taking a fistful of dirt and throwing it at Osamu.

"What're you on my side of the classroom fer?"  
"Oh, so ya own the classroom now, is that it?"

Atsumu glared at Osamu while Osamu turned around and went back to the table Kenma and Akaashi were, constantly looking over at his twin and giving dirty looks. "My god," Osamu huffed, shaking his head. "All the time in the world and he decides to be stupid. I don't understand."

Akaashi let out a small chuckle, shrugging as he kept his eyes focused down at the pot of Gillyweed, carefully extracting it from it's pot and trying to get a good piece out. Maybe he could sell it to one of those naive Slytherins and earn a couple extra Sickles.

"He's not your responsibility," Kenma said in a soft voice, the three of them looking back at the group of Slytherins, now a big foot print on Atsumu's ass that looked like he didn't notice yet, all while still being occupied with the Gillyweed and figuring out what they would be doing with it. In Akaashi's humble opinion, they shouldn't be doing anything with it.  
Because what water would they even go in? The moat with the giant squid outside of Hogwarts?

"E's my brother though," Osamu sighed in an annoyed tone, angrily gritting his teeth as he stabbed the Gillyweed out of the soil over and over again. Akaashi wanted to tell him that's probably not how you were supposed to do it, but then he had an after thought that Osamu probably knew that. "E's my brother. So our shared mum is gonna be on ma arse if he fucks up! Ya know, she wasn' too happy he was in Slytherin. Said it was a bad rep and that 'e should be quite 'appy that we're pure bloods."

Akaashi and Kenma nodded in agreement. Osamu wasn't a close friend of theirs, but being apart of the same house definitely did something for them and being on the Quidditch team together also gave them a bit of a relationship.

"I mean, look at the Sugawara-san of theirs. Poor senior got all the bullyin' and shit." Akaashi and Kenma went quiet for a bit, both knowing what he was talking about, and all of them had the same thought in their mind. "Always felt bad but I aint gettin' in the way of no Slytherin. Except for ma shithead brother. 'E gotta realize soon that I aint always gonna be here to clean up his fuckin' messes."

For the rest of the class Osamu and Atsumu argued, telling each other to go fuck themselves (which Yahaba made very clear was not a good threat to make when you were twins) and finally the two were broken up by the professor and made to stay on their respective sides of the classroom.

Akaashi wondered how siblings, even after fighting so much, could even live with each other. Especially when he saw Osamu and Atsumu walking out of the class together and heading to lunch just to eat with each other.

"I think I have a plan to get muggle books back into the library," Nishinoya announced proudly when he entered the great hall, smoke marks on his face from god knows what and a proud grin on his face like he actually did something useful with his time.

Akaashi prayed to god that it was the case this time.

"What do you mean?" Akaashi asked, looking up at Nishinoya who was laying down a piece of parchment, both him and Kenma leaning in to see what was on it. Nishinoya had made a list of all the muggle books that were supposedly in the library before and beside each title, a signature of students. It looked like some sort of petition, but Akaashi looked back up at Nishinoya for confirmation.

"These were how many students liked the muggle books in the library!" Nishinoya explained, sitting down and helping himself to a big portion of lunch. "We show this to the headmaster and tell him that all these students want the books back."  
"Not a lot of the students though."

Which was true and sad at the same time. When Akaashi looked down at the names, maybe the highest beside a book title was 30 signatures. Which wouldn't be too bad if Hogwarts wasn't filled with hundreds of students. And all of them being pureblood wasn't much help either.

"Besides," Kenma said, going back to his own lunch and nibbling some pastry. "Headmaster Akaashi is already working on something."

Akaashi and Nishinoya's eyes widened, leaning in to Kenma's space and making Kenma visibly uncomfortable, but who could blame them? This was the first time Kenma was mentioning something about headmaster Akaashi doing something about anything muggle besides the interviews that, by the way, Akaashi still hasn't been called in for. Ludicrous, honestly. Akaashi should have been the first.

"What?" Nishinoya asked very loudly, Akaashi had to tell him to quiet down. "Headmaster is doing something about muggles?""I don't know everything," Kenma admitted, even Akaashi could hear the slight disappointment in his voice. "But I can tell you what I do know."

The three of them leaned in close, awkwardly huddling and probably looking incredibly suspicious to everyone else who happened to see them, but Akaashi - and probably Kenma and Nishinoya as well - didn't look like they could care less.  
This was information.

"Headmaster Akaashi," Kenma's voice was even lower, whispering so no one else could hear. "Has been investigating-""Investigating what?""Let me finish!" Kenma hissed, making Nishinoya flinch. Nishinoya deserved it, Akaashi thought.

"He's been interviewing different people in the Ministry and Board. Asking how the muggle borns have been treated by the Minister and stuff," Kenma went on explaining. "He's making an effort, but I don't know how far he's gotten."  
"So he's just been doing background checks?" Akaashi scoffed, rolling his eyes a bit. "Not that much of an action if you ask me.""I didn't ask you though," Kenma muttered, but Akaashi pretended he didn't hear it. "Anyway. He's been asking around about stuff and it looks like he's getting dirt on the Minister. I think he's just waiting for the right time to expose him."

Oddly enough, a weight felt like it was lifted up from Akaashi's chest. Even though it wasn't a problem solved, it was something. He hasn't been able to think of doing anything lately on how to save the muggle borns and it's been a strain to the head for a while. He felt like there was a responsibility on his end to try and do something, but he couldn't think of a single thing to do that would make a difference.

A weight was lifted off his chest, but Akaashi felt like one was just put down on his shoulders.

"But I'm assuming they're still in a long process," Akaashi mumbled sadly, the three of them leaning outwards after their little session, all in their own thoughts. Nishinoya was the first one to voice out what he was thinking.

"I think we should try," Nishinoya said suddenly, looking up at the ceiling. It was sunny today. "We should try and bring awareness. The only reasons none of these bozos here are doing anything is because they're all uneducated pricks."  
"I don't like what Oikawa-san is doing to you," Kenma huffed, glaring at Nishinoya. "He's rubbing his Slytherin-ness onto you.""You take that back!"

Akaashi sometimes forgot that they were students. Sometimes he forgot he was growing older and needed to take on more responsibilities. Akaashi forgot a lot of things, but he would never forget the face Nishinoya made when Kenma called him a Slytherin. 

Akaashi didn't think he asked for a lot in life. Granted, he was given a lot, but that wasn't the same thing. He wasn't that tough to please, there wasn't much he truly wanted. So in all, Akaashi didn't think asking for something on his end was a big deal and there wasn't a single thing he could think would be worth mentioning that he wanted.

But for the love of god, if Bokuto could send him just one letter that wasn't just a few lines of 'I love you' over and over again, that would be just amazing.

"He doesn't have a wide vocabulary. Does he?" Kenma commented, reading the letter from Bokuto Akaashi got that week from behind Akaashi's shoulder. Akaashi jumped in his seat, turning and hitting Kenma lightly on the head.

"Don't read other peoples things like that," Akaashi scolded, folding the letter up and tucking it in his pocket. "It's rude.""Maybe if I had something else to do I wouldn't be so bored as to having to read other people's letters."

Akaashi rolled his eyes, knowing that Kenma was referring to his game that Akaashi took away because Kenma's unhealthy obsession with it was starting to concern him. Not just because it annoyed him constantly with the 'dings' and 'pews' at the hours when Kenma was supposed to be sleeping (though that was a big part of it), Akaashi was just genuinely worried about Kenma's health as well. Maybe Kenma didn't see it, but every morning his eyes would be red and puffed up from staying up too late staring at a screen. His head would loll around like a baby's, probably because of the lack of energy his body had from staying up so late. And recently, Akaashi noticed, Kenma's hair was pretty greasy, which begged the question, how often was Kenma showering?

Even if Kenma didn't say it, Akaashi knew how much he missed Kuroo. Taking away the game was healthy.

"You seem to forget that it's still the school year," Akaashi scoffed, the game also tucked away in the pocket of Akaashi's robes, meaning Kenma had to try very hard to get the game if he wanted it that badly. He's tried magic a few times, but Akaashi was always faster, getting the game back with a simple counter-charm.

"Do your homework or something."  
"What're you, my mom?" Kenma bit back, sitting beside Akaashi, folding his arms like a child. "Even she wouldn't be this picky.""By the way, how is your mom?" Akaashi asked. Even though Kenma and Akaashi didn't hang out over holidays and such, Akaashi did know Kenma's parents were head of departments and Kenma's mom was head of the department of Muggle Relations. He would imagine her outrage with the separation, the injustice for muggles - the lack of books in the library. Everything, Akaashi would think Kenma's mom would have had some sort of reaction.

"How am I supposed to know?" Kenma sighed, leaning his head back on the head of the couch and closing his eyes. "I'm not her keeper."

Akaashi raised an eyebrow at Kenma, wondering exactly what that was supposed to mean. Kenma never mentioned his relationship status with his family, nor did he talk about them much.  
Perhaps this was one of the Ravenclaw qualities of Akaashi - he wanted to know.

"Akaashi."  
"Hm?" Akaashi waited for Kenma to continue, but when only silence followed Akaashi looked up from what he was doing and looked over at Kenma. Kenma's eyes were still closed, facing upwards.

"Kenma?"  
"Have you ever felt like you were privileged?"

Akaashi was shocked and taken a bit aback by the question, not expecting that out of nowhere. Was this where Kenma's mind wandered when he didn't have his game to play? If so, then maybe he understood a little more why Kenma was always playing.

"What do you mean?" Kenma looked at Akaashi like he was stupid, cracking an eye open and furrowing his eyebrows. "You know what I mean," said Kenma, closing his eyes again. "Have you ever felt like you were privileged. It means what it means."

Simple answer, no. Akaashi has never felt personally, that he was privileged. He had struggles. He wasn't always on the upper hand. In a room full of adults, Akaashi could never get his voice heard. Being someone who was more attracted to males, Akaashi knew he was an odd one out in society. Akaashi had hard times, maybe not the worst, but he's never felt privileged. He wasn't given any special treatment or anything.

Akaashi's never felt privileged until Kenma asked him.

"I know I am," Kenma said, letting out a loud exhale as he crossed his arms over his stomach. "I'm rich. My family is complete. I'm a pureblood. I know I'm privileged even if I'm fucked. I have insomnia and I'm socially awkward. I have a hard time talking to people even if I'm constantly thinking about what they're thinking about me. It's difficult for me to show how I feel for someone, sometimes I feel bad for Kuroo. Do you know where I'm getting at?"

Akaashi never realized how self aware Kenma was. 

"What are you trying to say?"

Kenma cracked an eye open again then closed it, shaking his head. "I feel like the problem is, on our end at least," Kenma started saying. Akaashi leaned his head back too in attempts to see what Kenma was seeing.

"Pure bloods don't know exactly just how privileged they are."

"Honestly Nishinoya, what have you told the Gryffindors that I do in my free time? They keep giving my tissues and-" Oikawa stopped when he entered Nishinoya's dorm, not to find Nishinoya, but Akaashi sitting on the bed, reading a book. Both of them were equally shocked to see the other.

"Oh," Oikawa said slowly, turning around and looking in the hallway before walking inside the dorm. "Are you here for..?""Nishinoya," Akaashi finished the sentence with a nod, putting his book down. "I'm waiting for him."

Akaashi didn't hate Slytherins or anything. He wasn't friends with any either, but he didn't want any of them to die, and he certainly didn't think the Slytherin house should be taken out.   
But Akaashi had to admit, he didn't know what prompted Nishinoya to become friends with one - especially Oikawa.

"Oh," Oikawa nodded his head slowly, walking over to Nishinoya's bed and sitting on the edge, not taking up too much space. Akaashi watched him closely, as if he were waiting for Oikawa to attack. "What were you guys going to do tonight?"

Akaashi didn't know, but Kenma was busy after getting a letter from his dad and Nishinoya said it was okay for Akaashi to come to his room whenever he wanted. He even gave Akaashi the Gryffindor password.

"We were going to work on his muggle project. Not a Muggle Studies project, obviously, but one for the awareness campaigns we've been doing." Oikawa said when Akaashi wasn't answering the question. Akaashi knew about Nishinoya's activism, and he was proud and all. He never asked what Nishinoya was doing because he could hear it from miles away, Nishinoya's screaming voice in the halls, but Akaashi thought it was good of them to do something that educated the students.

Perhaps that's where Akaashi should have started.

"I thought we would hang out," Akaashi said softly, getting up from the bed and beginning to head to the door. "But it seems that he has plans tonight." Oikawa's eyes widened, following Akaashi's movements as he reached for the doorknob. "Wait!" Oikawa stopped him, making Akaashi turn around, keeping an indifferent face. Clearly Oikawa and Nishinoya had something planned without Akaashi, so Akaashi needed to leave.

"You can join us if you want," Oikawa offered with a shrug. "The more people the better."

Oikawa was full of surprises tonight, it was unsettling. He was much more gentle, timid, even a bit awkward and shy. The exact opposite of how Akaashi has witnessed and has been treated in the past.

"You wouldn't mind me being there?" Akaashi raised an eyebrow, lightly referring to their past interactions before the separation happened and was just announced. Oikawa made it very clear he wasn't taking any shit from the Akaashi family and was ready to fight for Iwaizumi to stay. Akaashi almost was the victim of one of Oikawa's attacks, and if Nishinoya didn't step in then surely by now, Akaashi would have a permanent scar.

"Ah, about that," Oikawa chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I should apologize. Shouldn't I?"

Akaashi watched the awkward ball of Slytherin fluff up, his neck turning pink and his eyes shifting from side to side, avoiding eye contact with Akaashi but still trying to look at him. It was weird - Akaashi's never seen this side of Oikawa before. 

Then again, Akaashi didn't even know much about Oikawa in the first place. What was his favourite food? What were his parents doing for a living? What was he like outside of Quidditch? Did he have friends besides Nishinoya and Iwaizumi? Akaashi didn't know.

How come he was so quick to make assumptions then?

"Oh, you're both here! Great!" Nishinoya suddenly barged in before Akaashi could say anything, large rolls parchments in his arms and buckets of paint in his hand. "You both can help me!"  
"I told you, we can't do posters," Oikawa's voice suddenly went back to the regular, squeal like pitch Akaashi knew much better, pointing to the paint buckets Nishinoya was holding. "They're gonna get taken down." Nishinoya's mouth opened then closed, putting the paint buckets down on the ground with the parchment rolls, then putting his hands on his hips and shrugging hard.

"But I stole them already. We might as use them."

Akaashi ended up staying out of being too awkward to leave so suddenly and without any other explanation besides he just didn't want to be there. It ended up that Nishinoya's plan was to make a huge ass banner with all the information of muggle history that has helped the wizarding world, along with many muggle names who have showed up in wizard world history, then post that poster at the entrance of the Great Hall so everyone could read it.

It would've been a good idea if Oikawa didn't point out that they would need to get permission to hang it up or else it would just automatically get burned due to a charm that didn't allow graffiti or vandalism in the school. Unapproved posters included.

"You two are closer than I thought," Akaashi whispered, the three of them on the floor and Oikawa helping Nishinoya write notes on muggle history. Instead of making a big poster, Akaashi and Oikawa agreed they'd help Nishinoya make an essay to recite to headmaster Akaashi and maybe that would send a message. Akaashi was quite impressed how determined Nishinoya was about this as well, but he supposed he could understand considering how Nishinoya's personality was and his love for Asahi. Perhaps Akaashi could learn a thing or two from Nishinoya.

"Ah, well," Nishinoya shrugged, glancing at Oikawa on the other side of the paper before leaning in to Akaashi's ear and whispering back. "He's not as bad as I thought."

Even though Akaashi couldn't ask in the moment, he could imagine the situations that made Nishinoya's opinions turn completely. Starting off with the fact that Oikawa has been helping Nishinoya with this whole 'muggle campaign' thing instead of Akaashi and Kenma. Then there was the fact that Oikawa had the same energy level that Nishinoya had, one that Akaashi and Kenma could never match. Also, Oikawa was incredibly powerful even if he didn't see it. Oikawa has been beating Nishinoya in battles for a while, keeping up with Nishinoya this whole time.  
Maybe it was always inevitable that Nishinoya and Oikawa would be intertwined, friends or enemies. It was weird to think about.

"I started to see things in his perspective," Nishinoya added lowly, focusing on the big paper in front of them and writing down various names. "And I guess...I don't know. Maybe he wasn't as...selfish as I thought."

Akaashi looked over at Nishinoya and wanted to kiss him right then and there for giving him the best idea to start his own little move in this revolution for muggle and wizard union.

Saturday morning. Akaashi knew they would be there, on the outskirts of Hogwarts, waiting for a magical creature or two to kill and take for money. Akaashi knew they would come, bow and rifle in hand and ready to shoot the first unicorn that passes their way even if they were an endangered species and their existence was extremely rare, needing to be protected all costs. It wasn't like they knew that.

Akaashi knew that they would be here soon, wanting to hunt for their lives and attack the first magical creature that crossed their path.

Bokuto's parents. Akaashi knew that they would be coming.

Akaashi wasn't scared of them. Bokuto's parents were people too, they weren't some sort of monsters that had no morals or ethics. And if Akaashi would thing of it from a subjective standpoint, what they were doing wasn't the worse thing on the planet. Wizards treated magical creatures the same way sometimes, and it was a shitty thing to do. Some wizards even treated other wizards like they weren't anything, only to be faced with the consequences after.  
And Bokuto's parents weren't even aware of just what kind of world the wizarding world was like. How could the Ministry blame them for being afraid or careless?

"Look dear!" The sudden voice startled Akaashi, but he also never felt so relieved. "It's the boy from before!"

Akaashi turned around, his eyes. slightly widening when he saw Bokuto's parents there, just how he pictured they would be when they saw each other again - looking alive and ready to hunt.

"Hi," Akaashi greeted them with an airy breath, bowing down to them and standing there a bit awkwardly, unsure what to say. Luckily Bokuto's parents were much more skilled in the socializing part of the conversation that he didn't need to start the conversation.

"What're you doing here?" Bokuto's dad asked in slight concern. "We told you it was too dangerous for a kid."

Akaashi opened his mouth but nothing came out, not being able to think of a reason fast enough. "Oh, don't tell me you didn't explore around when you were a boy," Bokuto's mom teased her husband, hitting him on the shoulder lightly. "Come on hun, why don't you join us for a bit? I brought some lunch!"

Akaashi should have been more cautious, especially since he didn't really know Bokuto's parents all that well. If his own parents saw him right now they would be furious for so easily following an old couple with a gun and arrow that wanted to kill their whole existence.   
Not the smartest decision Akaashi made, but maybe the Gryffindor rubbing off on him was taking it's effect.

"Are you hungry?" Bokuto's mom asked, walking over to a spot where a bag and blanket lay, like a little picnic for two, taking out a sandwich and handing it to Akaashi. Akaashi stood there, silent for a few seconds before finally shaking his head.

"I-I already ate," Akaashi managed to say. "I, uh-""You okay, kid?" Bokuto's dad asked, furrowing an eyebrow down and checking Akaashi's forehead with the back of his hand. "You're looking a little pale."

Of course Akaashi was 'looking pale'. It fully hit him that these people were magic _hunters_. Technically speaking, they wanted Akaashi dead. They wanted Akaashi's whole species dead.  
And Akaashi was being offered a sandwich from them.

"My dad!" Akaashi blurted out loudly, making both of them widened their eyes at Akaashi. He realized that he needed to follow up quickly, so he pointed at Hogwarts, to the muggles what looked like a decaying, abandoned castle. "My dad would like to meet you! Please join us for a cup of tea."

Not Akaashi's proudest invitation in his life, but it worked - well, barely.

Bokuto's parents were very, _very_ concerned when Akaashi said his dad was in the scary, dark, breaking castle and that they would just love to have cup of tea with them. All they needed to do was leave their weapons right there and not bring it closer to the school- or castle.

Akaashi was pretty sure Bokuto's parents agreed to come out of worry that Akaashi seemed to be legitimately serious, and probably thought the poor boy was delusion and was trying to see how they could help. Bokuto's parents were quite courageous, following a strange boy into trespassing area - perhaps that was where Bokuto got those qualities from.

"Your father is...here?"

Akaashi wondered what they were seeing right now. Because to Akaashi, the hallways were filled with students and colour, a little less since it was Saturday, but there was still life. The chatter of groups, the laughs of friends, the giggles and attempts at spells. The windows were pouring in the sunlight of the day, there were sparkling rays of pixie dust and potion smoke coming from the Divination classroom.  
Hogwarts was lively and proud and loud and deserved to be shared with the world.

Bokuto's parents saw dead and dreary.

"Where is he, son?" Akaashi shouldn't have been so happy hearing Bokuto's dad calling him 'son'. That wasn't the point of this trip. Akaashi was walking so stiffly, trying to get them through the hallways as quickly as possible, getting them up the stairs before they could move and quickly rushing to the headmaster's office. He wasn't here to impress Bokuto's parents, he was there to make a point.  
To his dad and to them.

"Benedict," Akaashi said the password, watching as the Phoenix statue turned around. Bokuto's parents looked at each other weirdly, then to the moving Phoenix statue, indicating to Akaashi that they had no idea what was going on and what Akaashi just said.

"Son, listen. If there's something you want to tell us-" Bokuto's dad was cut off as Akaashi just kept waking like nothing happened, walking up the steps and approaching headmaster Akaashi's office quicker. His heart racing, now thinking about if he was going to get chewed out by his dad, or just what reaction in general he would get from bringing muggles into the school.

"Dad?" Akaashi called out softly, Bokuto's parents behind him. Luckily his dad was there, reading the newspaper like how he did every morning, a cup of coffee in hand. Headmaster Akaashi looked past his glasses at his son, at first ready to greet him but then spitting his coffee out when he saw who was following Akaashi behind him. Akaashi gave an apologetic smile, motioning over to Bokuto's parents.

"I brought some people over to have a cup of tea."

Akaashi thought that the day his parents met his significant other's parents, the first meeting wouldn't be as tense as it was right now. And Akaashi was under-exaggerating the word 'tense' - he could feel the heat of each other's confusion radiating in the room.

"Keiji," Akaashi's dad were sitting on one couch, facing the Bokuto couple. "What did you do?" Akaashi stood up straight, pouring a cup of tea into their cups with a shaky hand, he almost spilled it several times.

"I didn't realize your son was telling the truth when he said his dad was here," Bokuto's dad laughed, looking around the room. "I just didn't think it would be such an...extravagant place!"

Akaashi's dad stared blankly at him, leaning into Akaashi again and whispering. "Why are they here?" Akaashi cleared his throat, crossing a leg over the other before leaning back in his seat, ignoring his dad's question.  
"So," Akaashi started saying, clapping his hands together. "My dad is the owner of the place. That's what I wanted to say." The Bokuto couple nodded their head, a little more interested now. Akaashi worked with it.

"The hunting ranges are quite wide you see. They use these creatures of some sort for medicines. It's not only the 'magic' creatures, as you call them. Our own animals, unfortunately, are used as test subjects as well. It was a sacrifice they were willing to make."

The conversation stirred easily when Bokuto's mom started explaining their work and why they did. All of a sudden, Akaashi's dad was also interested. "That is unethical though. I don't see the benefit in the hunting."  
"We didn't either, but if you see the numbers and how many people have been healed from different sorts of diseases, ones that were once incurable! Don't tell me you haven't read the news lately. They're discussing a permanent cure for AIDS."

Akaashi and his dad had no idea what AIDS were, nor the rest of the diseases Bokuto's mom started listing after that. They didn't know because the wizarding world didn't have them. If you got sick you could take special medicines, potions - there were drinks that could make your bones _grow back_. They didn't need the fancy technology muggles were inventing.

"That sounds..." Akaashi's dad trailed off. When Akaashi looked over he saw that his dad was in deep thought, stroking his chin and looking down at his now cold coffee. Akaashi's dad was thinking hard - which was an amazing start.

"Practical."

So the conversations went on, from the hunting to medicine to kids to work and then finally it was lunch time and Akaashi tried to dismiss himself. He felt like both crying and laughing, but in the end he also just wanted to get out of there. He didn't contribute to the conversation at all ever since they started to talk about 'adult stuff' and trying to watch his dad pretend to understand the muggle world was making him cringe.

"I'll walk you out."  
"No, it's fine," Bokuto's dad waved his hand at Akaashi's, shaking his head. "We remember where need to go. But thank you for having us for tea. I completely forgot about the time!" They all laughed, little Akaashi looking up at them and wondering if adult's sense of humour were the same in every world. "We would love to do this again, Akaashi-san. Please, contact us," Bokuto's dad gave a slip of paper with numbers on it that Akaashi recognized ever since this summer when Bokuto explained what a cell phone was.  
It was their number.

"Thank you again. Let's meet up soon, shall we?"

Akaashi's dad closed the door slowly of his office, Akaashi sitting on the couch quietly, waiting for the lecture or the scolding that he could feel was coming.

"Would you like to explain to me what just happened?" Akaashi's dad asked slowly, Akaashi shrugging innocently. "You just had a nice chat with your son's boyfriend's parents?" Akaashi tried, his dad giving him a sarcastic smile back as he sat on the couch in front of Akaashi, looking at his son with an unreadable expression.

"Do you understand why what you did was wrong and you shouldn't ever do that again?"

Akaashi was a bit surprised at just how calm his dad was being right now. He wasn't expecting yelling, screaming, maybe even a bit of threatening to get hit (which no parent should do so easily, by the way) because Akaashi just risked the whole existence of magic as it is by bringing muggle hunters into the school. Sure he questioned and hesitated, but he still did it.

"I do," Akaashi finally said quietly, not even pretending to be sorry because it seemed that his dad didn't even care.

"The only reason why I'm not screaming my head off right now, Keiji, is because I am very stressed and tired and I do not need another reason to fume fuel inputted into me. So please," Akaashi's dad sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. "Never, ever, ever do that again. Or else I'm letting your mom handle you. At least she can take your punishments off my hands."

Akaashi felt like he was let off the hook easily this time, and even though it felt a little _too_ easy, he took it. Because Akaashi's dad seemed to have a lot on his plate, perhaps he didn't need to have the record that they let muggles into Hogwarts leaking out despite them walking around and leaving like nothing happened. Since it was the weekend, they could probably blend in as professors or maybe just regular parents walking around after a meeting with a professor. Either way, this little interaction hopefully wouldn't blow up to unnecessary proportions.

"Dad, I just wanted to show you-""I know, Keiji," Akaashi's dad cut him off, holding his hand up to stop Akaashi from speaking any further. "I know. I know and I get that you want Koutarou and you to live happily ever after and I know it's been tough, but please, I'm begging you," Akaashi's dad looked tired as he faced Akaashi. This time, Akaashi could see the eyebags under his dad's eyes.

"Understand the position I'm in right now."

Akaashi gulped, a pang of guilt going through his stomach when his dad finally asked him to do something that most parents never really asked for because it was quite impossible - understand.  
When you're not a parent, how were you supposed to understand one? Parents could understand kids, they've been a kid before. But a kid understanding a parent. That was difficult.

"You know I think of Koutarou as family," headmaster Akaashi said softly. "Trust me, I'm doing everything I can. It'll take some time and-""How long?" Akaashi cut him off, furrowing his eyebrows at his dad.

How was he supposed to understand? His dad never talked about it, no adults ever talked about it. All the students at Hogwarts, here and far, didn't know what was happening, didn't know what to do. They didn't know that the muggle borns were treated differently, didn't know what was happening in the work place, in the hiring field, in the stores and shops, in the banks and in the streets.  
Akaashi felt like he didn't understand a lot - he didn't understand his dad. He didn't understand muggle borns, the muggle world.

He didn't understand _Bokuto._ And it was frustrating.

Maybe if he were a little more like Kenma, who was self aware and knew things that Akaashi wouldn't even think to imagine because he never needed to. Or maybe a little bit more like Hinata, considerate of other's feelings and knew what he needed to do in order to cheer someone up or on. 

"How long until the world is better? How long until Bokuto-san can talk to his parents again?" Akaashi felt like a child asking those questions, especially knowing the answer already. But he didn't know what else to do, and he certainly didn't understand what his role in all of this was. 

Akaashi's dad looked at him, sighed, then gave a genuine, warm smile that made Akaashi feel like the little kid he hated being. 

"I don't know."

_Keiji,_

_Your father has updated me on everything that has happened and I have to say, I did not expect that from you. Blowing up your family Tower and bringing in muggles to the school? You know Hogwarts does everything and anything to keep itself safe from harm and danger and you just exposed it like nothing. Please realize you are not the only person attending. There are hundreds of lives at risk now because of your careless actions. Don't get upset with your father or me because this isn't for us, it's for your safety as well._

_You haven't written to me in a while so I assumed everything was fine until your father told about the way you've been acting. I hope this doesn't continue or else there will be some serious consequences when I get home. I don't want you to give a bad reputation to our family at such a young age. You have many years ahead of you, so don't ruin them now._

_I looked into what is happening in the Ministry for you though, per your father's request. To make your mind easy, the interviews and background checks are proving effective. 4 wizards are on trial for discrimination against muggle borns and now are facing charges. One of them wouldn't hire muggle borns solely because they were from a muggle background. There is justice in this world Keiji. You just need to be patient._

_I had a feeing you would feel anxious because of this separation, so I'll let you know from my end of the spectrum, I didn't vote the Muggle Studies curriculum out. Do not be cross with me because I know you think I tried to convince your dad otherwise. I think it is important to learn about a whole other existence that we cohabitate the world with, and I think that there should be more credit where credit is due in terms of the muggles. They've helped a lot in wizarding history, and they should teach that more than Blast-Ended Sckrewts that do nothing more than blow up._

_So you invited Bokuto-kun's parents. I am not impressed, but your father says he had a very enlightening conversation with them, which is interesting. He plans to take what he learned to the Ministry in hopes of arguing, so let's hope your careless act can redeem itself by proving useful. Pray that there was a good outcome to your invitation because I will be taking your father's side in this argument._

_Speaking of Bokuto-kun, I plan on inviting him for Christmas this year. I know you were not particularly upset with it just being the two of you last holidays, but I hope that we can have a nice discussion since you two have been courting for the past 2 years. I think it is about time for the two of us to have a one on one conversation for the first time._

_I believe your father wishes that I come over for a weekend for a dinner. I just left Romania now and am heading to Hungary, so expect me by the end of the month. Hopefully your father has done something with the Ministry by then and you won't be in such a sour mood for a meal with your mother._

_I will write to you again and check on you. Write back properly._

_Author and Publisher of Wizard Press Co._   
_Executor in Chief  
Akaashi Chieko_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of an informative chapter with not much 'fun' but I hope you still enjoyed it! More content creators I would like to recommend :
> 
> |whumpster-dumpster - Bear with me, they are a Tumblr account that helps give writing prompts and suggestions. For writers (and maybe some readers with huge imaginations!) I recommend!
> 
> |soktokki - An art account on Instagram that posts lots of Haikyuu and their ships. They have a Harry Potter AU comic going on and it's adorable! Go check them out, their artwork and inspirations and AUs are great :)
> 
> |itsalways3here - Another art account on Instagram and they post these adorable characters that are the TsukishimaxYamaguchi love children and it absolutely adorable! They also post Harry Potter x Haikyuu AUs fanart, so obviously they have a great mind XD
> 
> That's all for now! See you in the next chapter, and stay safe out there!


	39. Nishinoya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER : This chapter briefly goes over sensitive topics of diseases such as cancer and it's 'cure'. All that is stated is purely fiction. If this topic is something that makes you uncomfortable please consider this before reading.

Date : November 9 1997

Time : 7:57 PM

Current Location : Gryffindor Boy's Shower Room

Status : Mission - Accomplished

" _And I can't explain~  
But it's something about the way you look tonight~  
It takes my breath away~  
It's that feeling I get about you deep inside~_"

Whether there were other people in the showers next to him, Nishinoya wasn't sure nor did he care. He felt like singing as he rinsed his hair out with water, the shampoo dripping down his back. He could already smell the strawberry scent that Kenma told him would be a nice touch, gifting him a bottle himself. Even though Nishinoya thought it was a little girly, he couldn't lie and deny that it wasn't nice to smell a bed of strawberries on his pillow every night.

" _And I can't describe~  
But it's something about the way you look tonight~  
It takes my breath away~"_

Nishinoya paused for dramatic effect, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself for a big finish. If Nishinoya was a little more aware of his surroundings, he would know that the people showering in the stalls next to him were deeply annoyed.

" _The way you look toni-_ holy shit!" Nishinoya screamed, his eyes widening when the curtain opened from his shower. His heart was racing but the pace quickly dropped when he saw who it was, not even bothering to cover up because what was so shameful about the naked body? And Nishinoya didn't have anything to hide, it wasn't like nobody their age knew what a male's parts looked like.

"What the fuck, Kenma?" Nishinoya asked, with slight irritation, not because Kenma disturbed his shower though. "It's cold! You're letting the hot water escape," Nishinoya groaned, snatching the shower curtain back and closing it, but Kenma just pulled it back again, exposing Nishinoya's whole stall.

Now that Kenma had Nishinoya's attention, Nishinoya was looking at him properly now and noticed that something was a little off with Kenma. His eyes were red, his hair tattered and looked like he hadn't brushed it in months. His clothes were tightly fitted, like he didn't care what he put on, and his nails were crooked from being bitten all the time.  
Nishinoya could have guessed there might be something wrong with Kenma.

"Nishinoya," Kenma said slowly, the mist of the hot water getting on his wet and dampening Kenma a bit. "Are you doing anything tonight? Are you sneaking out? Are you gonna prank some Slytherins?"

Someone who actually wanted to do those things wouldn't have asked so loudly. Nishinoya learned that a long time ago and has continued to keep that in mind from that point on, so he knew Kenma wasn't actually interested in breaking some rules. Sighing and putting a hand on his hip, Nishinoya leaned on one foot, raising his eyebrow at Kenma.

"Keiji-kun still hasn't given your game back?"

It seemed to be a sensitive topic, the way Kenma groaned with raged, punching the shower curtain continuously. The other Gryffindors taking showers at that time stuck their heads out from their respective stalls, seeing what was going on with all that noise. All of them quickly went back to their showers when they saw it was just a little Ravenclaw venting out his anger.

"I haven't slept in 3 days!" Kenma exclaimed, pulling his hair and looking at Nishinoya. It looked like his veins were about to pop out. "If I'm not sleeping without my game he might as well give it back, right? Right?!" Nishinoya flinched as Kenma's voice raised, having this being the first time Nishinoya heard such a loud reaction from Kenma before, and standing in the shower naked wasn't a good setting to experience it.

"Tell me I'm right!"  
"You're right!" Nishinoya said out of instinct, not wanting to see what would happen if he said Kenma was wrong.

"I know I'm right," Kenma twitched, fiddling with his fingers - reminding Kenma of how Akaashi did that as well. He wondered if that was a Ravenclaw thing - then watched as Kenma started pacing in front of Nishinoya's shower stall, back and forth and back and forth, Nishinoya was about to get dizzy.

"You have to help me get it back," Kenma said suddenly, turning over to Nishinoya and stepping into the shower, not seeming to care that he was getting his hair and clothes wet. "You have to steal it for me from Akaashi."

Now, usually Nishinoya wouldn't have had a problem with that. He liked being mischievous and liked to get away with things, doing things that gave him an adrenaline rush (like stealing) and simply having fun, Nishinoya was all for it.  
But stealing from _Akaashi_ was a little...

And Kenma just had to know that too.

"Please," Kenma begged desperately, another new face on Kenma that Nishinoya has never seen before. All while being completely naked, in the shower while Kenma looked like he just got out of a hobo contest.

"I need that game back," Kenma said softly, closing the shower curtain and giving Nishinoya no way to escape. "Wouldn't you want me to help you steal something if you asked?" Kenma pushed, not even letting Nishinoya answer for himself. Though Kenma had the right idea, Nishinoya was hesitant on agreeing, but only because it was Akaashi that Kenma wanted to take from.

"I'll let you play a round if you help me."

That got Nishinoya's attention. He had to admit, whenever Kenma played his Gameboy device, Nishinoya couldn't help but be very, very interested, and had asked maybe one or two or a hundred times to try. All attempts ended with a cold 'no' and Kenma going back to the game.  
Now he had an opportunity. All he had to do was get back a game that originally belonged to Kenma in the first place.

"3 rounds." Kenma looked very annoyed and disturbed, scrunching his face up when Nishinoya tried to get more out of the deal, and honestly Nishinoya was ready to take it back and allow for one game. But then Kenma nodded his head shortly, sighing.

"Fine."

Nishinoya finished his shower in peace and Kenma waited for him, wet and cold outside on Nishinoya's bed. It was obvious to say a lot of the Gryffindors were confused when they saw Kenma coming out of Nishinoya's shower in the first place.

"Okay, so here's how we'll do it."

Nishinoya has stolen before, there was no point in denying that. He's stolen hair gel from Oikawa loads of times back in the good old days (another way to say last year), Daichi's broom when he got a new one for his birthday and refused Nishinoya a chance to ride it in fear of 'breaking it' (which Nishinoya totally did) and the passwords written down for the prefects bathroom because Nishinoya wanted to have a lemon scented hot bubble bath every once in a while (Ushijima was not happy with that and Nishinoya was punished accordingly). And let's not forget his power move last year when he stole a precious potion right from the hands of Tsukishima Kei, a supposedly focused and straight forward guy.  
Goes to saying, Nishinoya has stolen before.

Just never from Akaashi. So like any other sane person, he was terrified on the inside.

"We put on the invisibility cloak," Nishinoya explained, showing Kenma and it was obvious Kenma was fascinated by the cloak, only 5 in existence. Tanaka left it at Hogwarts as a bit of a favour for Nishinoya, and even though it hasn't been as useful as Nishinoya thought, now that he had a purpose for it it made it much more interesting. "And we sneak in. Easy as that."

Kenma raised an eyebrow skeptically at Nishinoya, like he didn't believe that that was all there was to stealing, but it was true. Nishinoya has stolen every thing he's ever stolen just with the power of the handy invisibility cloak that wasn't even his. People were so simple minded, was what Tanaka said when he gave Nishinoya the advice. Also, Nishinoya didn't know how to do a charm to make himself invisible yet, so he had to stick with the basics.

"I don't think it's going to work," Kenma said with disappointment in his voice, putting the cloak down. "Akaashi's too smart for that." Nishinoya did agree to extent, but not even the smartest person can seen through the invisibility cloak. It was simply impossible.

"Keiji-kun can't be _that_ smart," Nishinoya scoffed, putting the cloak around his body so now he was just a floating head, smiling widely at a very shocked Kenma. "Now come on! We have to get your game back!"

That seemed to do it for Kenma, joining Nishinoya under the cloak. The two were small enough to fit perfectly, having to lift the cloak up only a bit for their feet to be able to step without tripping over it. So from the Gryffindor Tower, walking all the way to the Ravenclaw Tower they walked under the cloak, testing it as they passed by other students and professors, giggling when Nishinoya made faces and Kenma stuck his middle finger up at them. The invisibility cloak should be working.

When they got to Akaashi and Kenma's dorm however, that was when things got tricky. They knew they had to get in the stealthiest way possible.

"The door's closed," Nishinoya whispered, looking through the shimmering cloak, turning to Kenma. "What do we do?""I got this," Kenma said, pulling his wand out. Nishinoya knew there was a charm to walk through walls - how else did you get to Platform 9 3/4? - but didn't know what it was. Kenma seemed to know though, and that was enough for Nishinoya to get excited.

"It should work," Kenma whispered, testing it out by putting his hand through the door. When they watched Kenma's hand disappear, straight through the door and crossing over, Nishinoya had to hold in a squeal. The two of them started walking through, the invisibility cloak still around them, Akaashi laying on his bed reading in vision now that they've crossed.  
Nishinoya felt that same adrenaline rush he loved so much.

"It's in his pocket," Kenma whispered, walking over with Nishinoya following. "We grab it quick then run." 

As they walked over, inching closer and closer, making no noise at all, they were successful up to the point of being beside Akaashi's bed. Then, Akaashi started turning, making it so that now the pocket where the game was was now on the other side of the bed. Kenma cursed softly but took a deep breath, letting Nishinoya lead them to the other side.  
This time Akaashi didn't move. Nishinoya reached his hand out, slipping it mid-way in Akaashi's pocket, Kenma was holding in a breath as he watched intensely.

"Don't."

Nishinoya and Kenma both gasped loudly, stumbling backwards and falling on their asses, the cloak flying off of them. Akaashi's expression didn't change as he looked over at them, then back to his book.

"I expected better from you."

Kema cursed, raging as he stood up and tried attacking Akaashi for his game back, but Akaashi was quicker, jumping off the bed and holding his wand out. "You two _could_ have done it! But you're so goddamn loud! I can hear you from outside the door!" Kenma's face went red as Akaashi pointed out the simple mistake him and Nishinoya made, glaring at him as he tried jumping and tackling Akaashi for his game.

"Give. It. Back!" Kenma groaned, but Akaashi just pulled Kenma's hair back and making Kenma flinch away. Nishinoya watched with wide eyes as the Ravenclaws started arguing, hitting each other every once in a while. How could Akaashi call themselves boring when Nishinoya didn't even want to get involved in the middle of this fight? 

"When you sleep properly, I'll think about it."  
"What _are_ you? My mom?" Kenma gritted out, throwing himself at Akaashi but Akaashi just dodged him. "I wish I was. Then I really could get you to go to sleep without worrying about your real mom sending me an angry letter."

Nishinoya tried to quietly leave the room so he didn't have to get a scolding from Akaashi, but Akaashi took the Intangibility Charm off the dorm without even looking, causing Nishinoya to knock his head on the door, hissing in pain.

"And you," Akaashi narrowed his eyes at a groaning Nishinoya. "I thought you were on my side." Nishinoya pouted when Akaashi gave him some harsh words and told him he shouldn't be stealing from his friends, and that if he just asked nicely then maybe they could've compromised.

"You two should think about what you did tonight," Akaashi said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at Kenma and Nishinoya with disappointment. "And reflect on your actions."

Nishinoya has been told that many times for all sorts of shit he's done in the past. But this time and what might be the only time did he actually reflect on his actions.

"Cells in the body," Oikawa said suddenly as he walked in the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast, a muggle newspaper he smuggled in Hogwarts in hand and a glass of pumpkin juice that looked half drank. Nishinoya wasn't sure what the vibe was, but he had a feeling Oikawa was up all night.

"It's cells in the body." Nishinoya looked up at him, blinking slowly before looking down at the newspaper Oikawa threw on the table. The headline was ' **Permanent Cure For Cancer In The Making - Unknown Ingredients Still To Be Identified** '. Nishinoya didn't know the most important word in that sentence, but with context he could identify at least the gist of it.

"Cancer is a bunch of cells in the body, growing and growing and growing," Oikawa explained even though Nishinoya didn't ask. "And depending on where those cells grow, it could kill you." Nishinoya blinked at Oikawa, looking over at the newspaper, so many unfamiliar words before his eyes, then back up at Oikawa.

"Okay," Nishinoya put a piece of beef in his mouth, chewing it at an even pace. "Why are you telling me this?" Oikawa groaned, sitting down in front of Nishinoya and leaning in, making sure no other Gryffindors around them could see the muggle newspaper and snitch.

"The huntings. Everything with magical creatures and getting information from innocent wizards and witches," Oikawa whispered, Nishinoya leaning in as well so he could hear properly. "This is what they're using it for. Curing deadly diseases they couldn't cure before." Oikawa looked around to make sure that no one was looking at them or trying to listen in on the conversation, but honestly, it just looked even weirded when he did it.

"They aren't trying to find magical existence. They're just trying to find a cure."

Nishinoya swallowed hard, looking at Oikawa with a blank expression. Ever since Oikawa started getting more and more passionate about muggle injustice and stuff, the thinking part of his activism was taken care of. But sometimes, Oikawa needed to talk a little slower so Nishinoya could understand a little better.

"I don't get why you're telling this still," Nishinoya said honestly, making Oikawa grit his teeth and slam the table. "Get it through your thick skull, you imbecile." Later Nishinoya would have to ask Kenma what 'imbecile' means.

"That's probably why the Minister sent the muggle borns away. So that they don't put two and two together and figure out that muggles are just trying to help each other by killing magical creatures. I bet the Ministry of Magic hasn't been that hospitable whenever they meet muggles either!"

This time, Nishinoya's interest was peaked. Talking about the separation hasn't been popular these days, and it was like everyone really did forget about it, Forgetfulness Potion or not. Even Nishinoya found himself getting used to spending his free time with Akaashi or Kenma and now Oikawa as well, and just anyone besides Asahi these days. Which was obviously horrifying to think about.

"So you're telling me that Asahi-san left because the Ministry didn't want to share our magic to help sick muggles?" Oikawa nodded his head excitedly now that Nishinoya was getting it. "Well. That's not nice."  
"Not nice at all!" Oikawa agreed, pointing to the newspaper at a different article, Nishinoya didn't have the time to tell Oikawa he had difficulty reading it. "And they're using things that we use in our potions all the time. We have resources to spare!"

Nishinoay was about to say something as well, wanting to contribute to the conversation meaningfully. His attention was redirected when he turned and saw Kageyama and Tsukishima sitting down a few metres away from them, eating breakfast together. Nishinoya knew nothing about muggle diseases, but maybe Kageyama did. Hinata talks a lot, he must have mentioned it a few times.

"Tobio-kun," Nishinoya called out, getting Kageyama's attention right away. "What do you know about cancer?"

The question looked like it threw Kageyama off a bit, noticing how he glanced over at Oikawa before looking back at Nishinoya and shrugging. "What is that?" Nishinoya groaned softly when Kageyama looked equally confused with the word, and even upset that Nishionya asked in the first place. Oikawa shifted awkwardly, not looking at Kageyama, which Nishinoya thought was weird but didn't comment on it.

"Oi, Tsukishima," Nishinoya looked over at Tsukishima's plate, the blond looking at Nishinoya with a cold stare that unsettlingly matched Kageyama's. "What are you eating? Someone as tall as you can't live off of that." Tsukishima's plate had a sandwich and a salad with some fruits on the side. Definitely not what a growing boy should be eating in Nishinoya's opinion.

"If I eat too much it messes with my stomach," Tsukishima explained with a shrug, picking at his salad with a fork. "Not everyone can shit after a meal like you, Nishinoya-san." 

Nishinoya's eyes widened slightly, not expecting Tsukishima to talk like that suddenly. It sort of made him remember why he used to hate Slytherins. So Nishinoya got up, going over to Tsukishima and rubbing his knuckles on Tsukishima's head, making Tsukishima whine and try to stop him but Nishinoya wrapped an arm around Tsukishima's neck to stop him.

"You talk like that to all your seniors?" Nishinoya asked, gritting his teeth, watching Tsukishima struggling, his glasses tilting off of his face and trying to get Nishinoya to let go. "You can't talk to people like that, you tall-headed freak. Treat me with a little more respect." Kageyama on the other side of the table was enjoying the show, laughing a little snarky, Nishinoya was kind of proud of himself. 

"Alright, alright," Tsukishima groaned, Nishinoya finally letting go of him. "Sorry." Tsukishima mumbled after, Nishinoya proudly sitting back down with Oikawa and looking back at the newspaper. Even though Tsukishima was a Slytherin, he was also a junior and Kageyama's friend, so Nishinoya will let it go for now.

"What are you reading?"  
"You read?"

Kenma and Akaashi joined the table as well, sitting on either side of Nishinoya and looking down at the newspaper. "Hey, that's where Kuroo's from," Kenma pointed at the location the newspaper came from, the words 'Miyagi Prefecture' in italic bold. "It's his hometown."

Oikawa looked at the three of them and shifted awkwardly before getting up, but Akaashi quickly stopped him. "Where are you going?" Oikawa's mouth opened, Nishinoya also looking up and motioning for Oikawa to sit back down. "Eat breakfast with us." It was clear Oikawa was conflicted whether he should leave or stay, but seeing Kenma as well glaring at him and nodding at the seat in front of Nishinoya, Oikawa sat down.

"Oh, Oikawa-kun!" Daichi greeted, sitting next to Oikawa, then Ushijima out of nowhere sitting next to Daichi. "Didn't know you were joining. Oi, Kageyama-kun! Come sit closer with Tsukishima."

The 8 of them, and oddly mixed group, all sitting together for lunch was definitely something the other students whispered about for the rest of breakfast. 3 different Quidditch captains, an antisocial duo and a chaotic ticking bomb mixed with intellectual know-it-alls that couldn't stand too much stupid without blowing up. And odd group, but it goes without saying know one would expect whenever they would burst out laughing and actually converse with each other in a genuine, friendship type of way.

"No, don't, Nishionya-"

The cauldron blew up in Nishinoya's face, his partner for the assignment beside him groaning in disappointment. Nishinoya forgot his name, but he wasn't going to apologize anyway, so did it really matter?

"Sir! Sir, I want a new partner!" Shirabu exclaimed obnoxiously, making Nishinoya fume a bit but he started to clean up his mess quickly in hopes of at the very least getting lightly scolded. Nishinoya loved Potions Class, he really did. If only his Potions partner wasn't such a whiney bitch, maybe they could've gotten somewhere.

"Sir, I would like a new partner, _please_ ," Shirabu begged softly, the students around them giggling as they saw Nishinoya's smoke and frog brain covered face. Nishionya was trying to clean his mess as professor Takeda came up to him, a soft smile on his face as he offered Nishinoya a towel to wipe off the mess on his clothes and body before the floor.

"Nishinoya-san, maybe you should go to the bathroom and clean yourself off first," professor Takeda suggested lightly, then looking over at Shirabu and motioning for him to move as well. "And maybe Shirabu-san. You can help him?"

Shirabu's glare was enough to say exactly what was on his mind, and Nishinoya was thinking the same thing. "It's fine," Nishinoya and Shirabu said at the same time, sharing the exact same disgusted face. "I can go by myself," Nishinoya added quickly but professor Takeda motioned Shirabu to follow Nishinoya. "It's good that you and your partner's in this class get along. You're going to be with each other the whole year, aren't you?" Nishinoya and Shirabu both groaned at the same time, but Shirabu eventually gave in by following Nishinoya out of the class and towards the nearest boy's bathroom. Of course, they didn't talk the entire time.

Even as Nishinoya was washing off the frog mucus off of his robes, there were no exchange of words or offers of help (Nishinoya didn't need it anyway). Except when a few minutes passed and a ringing went off from Shirabu's body. It startled Nishinoya but Shirabu looked like he was...expecting it?

"Hello?" Shirabu took out a little silver box that flipped open, pressed a button and held the rectangle to his ear. He didn't even bother looking around to see if anyone was coming and didn't seem to care Nishinoya was still in front of him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm having Potions Class right now. Well, I'm in the bathroom," Shirabu looked up and down at Nishinoya with clear displeasure. "No, I'm not alone."

Nishinoya didn't know if it was rude or lunatic that Shirabu would just start talking to someone else using some weird device, not even thinking Nishinoya would tell on him and assuming Nishinoya was cool with it. Nishinoya had frog brains in his hair and Shirabu didn't even ask if he was okay. So it goes without saying, Nishinoya was just a tad bit annoyed.

"Okay, I'm going too. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay, bye," Shirabu said finally, closing the silver rectangle up and putting it back in his pocket. When he saw Nishinoya looking at him he smiled innocently and shrugged.

"What?"

Nishinoya scoffed at the bluntness, wondering if he should just punch Shirabu right then and there or wait for another perfect moment. "What do you mean 'what'?" Nishinoya bit back, walking over to Shirabu and pointing at his pocket. "What the fuck was that?"

Shirabu's cocky smirk made Nishinoya want to rage, but Shirabu did end up taking the device out and showing it to Nishinoya. "You wait once a week for a phone call but I can have mine any time of the day," Shirabu said, a bit of arrogance in his voice. "Interesting, isn't it?" Nishinoya gritted his teeth, snatching the silver box swiftly from Shirabu's hand, Shirabu gasping in shock and trying to get it back but Nishinoya was fast.

"Piece of shit," Nishinoya cursed as he started running out of the bathroom with Shirabu's silver box, opening it like he did and trying to figure out what it was. Shirabu was chasing after Nishinoya, trying to get it back, but Nishinoya was faster, making sharper turns and dodging every single hall monitor and prefect monitoring the halls. Nishinoya obviously has done this more than once.

Nishinoya realized Shirabu's little fun device was a 'cell phone', something that apparently wasn't supposed to work in Hogwarts because of the amount of magic concentration in the air messing with. the signals, but Shirabu's was working perfectly fine.

'Semi Eita' was the last contact and seemed to be the only contact, so Nishinoya found out something else in that short time span of having it. "Give it here, you midget shit-head!" Shirabu screamed, catching up on Nishinoya at the end of the hall, but Nishinoya was already finished with it by that time. He turned around, making Shirabu stop in his tracks, then tossed the phone over. Shirabu caught it, letting out a sigh of relief, then glared at Nishinoya.

"That was heavily uncalled for."  
"Was it though?" Nishinoya grinned sarcastically before walking passed Shirabu and kicked his shin. "I got everything I needed. Thanks for your time and hard work."

Nishinoya didn't know how a cell phone worked. In fact, he didn't know how a phone worked. He's just been talking into this weird, half crescent thing every time he had a phone call session with Asahi, and this week was no exception.

Up till now, that is.

"What do you mean I can't go on the phone?" Nishinoya asked, outraged and blood boiling. "I know he uses it on me. He gets one call and he always uses it on me!" The deputy headmaster shrugged helplessly.

"Sorry kid. New rules. The muggle borns can only contact family members, blood related. No friends anymore."

Nishinoya's jaw dropped when he heard such absurd rules, knowing exactly what the problem with that was, but not being able to say anything about it. Who was he supposed to complain to? Headmaster Akaashi? Because it seemed that he had his plate full right now and there wasn't any way Nishinoya's tiny complaints of not hearing Asahi's voice was going to make the priority list.

"Thank you," Nishinoya growled, glaring at the the deputy headmaster and turning around, more upset than ever. And it wasn't just because Asahi wasn't allowed to call him anymore.

"That was quick," Oikawa remarked as he saw Nishinoya leaving the office, his face all red and eyes angry. "I take it didn't go to well though?" Oikawa _just_ had his own phone call with Iwaizumi.

"The muggle borns aren't allowed to call friends anymore," Nishinoya said quietly, walking down the hallway with Oikawa beside him. "Only family members from now on." Oikawa's jaw dropped when he heard the news, trying his best to console Nishinoya, but Nishinoya's mood was already sour for the rest of the day. Even going to lunch wasn't enough to cheer him up.  
Didn't stop the amount he ate though, of course.

"That's fucked," Oikawa said, shaking his head, the two of them this time sitting at the Ravenclaw table so they could wait for Kenma and Akaashi. "I can't believe they stopped the muggle borns only from calling."

There was a thump from the table and a shifting movement before suddenly, out of nowhere, Ushijima appeared, glaring at the both of them and allowing himself to sit next to Nishinoya. He looked intently at the two of them, Nishinoya and Oikawa waiting for Ushijima to say something first. There was an awkward silence between them Nishinoya wasn't a big fan of before Ushijima finally opened his mouth.

"The phone calls are stopping?"

Nishinoya hummed, noticing that he was worried too. At least it wasn't limited to just Nishinoya and his little friend group. He wondered how many other people encountered this problem he had. "Only for the muggle borns," Nishinoya clarified. "Oikawa-san was able to talk to Iwaizumi-san."

Ushijima glared at Oikawa, making Oikawa flinch and glare back. Nishinoya watched the tension unfold, chewing on his lunch slowly, his interest peaking when Oikawa opened his mouth, looking like he was about to diss Ushijima. He's never seen Oikawa fight with someone other than Nishinoya himself, so he was intrigued about what it looked like in the spectator's point of view. 

"Nishinoya Yuu-san!" Nishinoya's voice was called out by the deputy headmaster, getting Nishinoya's attention right away, seaweed dripping out of his mouth mid bite. He quickly gulped when he saw the deputy headmaster walking towards him. His heart started sinking, feeling like this was a serious or otherwise he would be going to the headmaster's office for doing something. Stealing Shirabu's cell phone? Or having an invisibility cloak for pranking purposes only? Oh god, maybe he would get called in for swimming with the mermaids last week when he wasn't supposed to. It wasn't his fault Herbology taught them about Gillyweed!

"The headmaster would like to speak to you," the deputy headmaster said, nodding his head over to the exit of the Great Hall. "Now."

Nishinoya's heart was pounding very hard, he could hear it through his ears. Perhaps, he shouldn't be this sweaty or tight-winded, but here he was, terrified of getting expelled for stupid things he did literally last year.

Oh god. What if he was getting transferred to a different school? Not even with Asahi, but somewhere like Beauxbatons where his mom worked! Terrifying...

"Nishinoya-san," headmaster Akaashi greeted with a smile, motioning to the seat in front of him for Nishinoya to sit down. "Go ahead and take a seat. I'm just going to be-""I didn't do it!" Nishinoya said quickly, not even waiting for questions or indications or accusations. If he did something then there should be someone else in this office, usually Oikawa.

"Sorry?"  
"I didn't do it!" Nishinoya said again, headmaster Akaashi looking clearly confused, raising an eyebrow at Nishinoya. "You didn't do...what?""Whatever I'm here for! I didn't do it, I promise. Ask Oikawa-san or-or Keiji-kun. They've been with me every day."

Headmaster Akaashi looked at Nishinoya a bit surprised then chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh, Nishinoya-san, don't worry. It's not that kind of day today."

Nishinoya let out a sigh of relief, walking over and taking a seat in front of headmaster Akaashi's desk. He noticed a plate of cookies that Nishinoya helped himself to without asking. He didn't have lunch yet, he was starving.

"I just wanted to ask you a few questions about what you know about what's been happening lately," headmaster Akaashi said, taking out a quill and parchment. "I'm sure you've heard from your friends that I've been doing this, if not then my son."

Nishinoya's mouth stopped chewing, realizing that he was too excited too quick. He just remembered that headmaster Akaashi was asking everyone about what happened on Halloween who was involved, and what people knew about the muggle born world and muggles in general. With what Nishinoya knew now about muggles and the more educated he got, the more confident he got talking about it.

But now that he was in front of the headmaster of Hogwarts, it was a little more difficult voicing his opinions out so easily.

"Can you tell me anything that you know about the muggle borns and what they've been through?" Headmaster Akaashi asked, not looking up at Nishinoya at first. "You're close to that Azume-san, aren't you?"

Remembering Asahi, all of a sudden Nishinoya's drive was pumped. There was a shriek in his heart, screaming out at the highest volume and telling Nishinoya he needed to do something because Asahi was still in trouble, still being treated unfairly along with a lot of others - Hinata, Lev, Terushima, Sugawara, everyone! Nishinoya had to do something, even if it was a small step.

"I'll tell you everything I know," Nishinoya said firmly, sitting up straight, a determined look on his face. Headmaster Akaashi now looked much more intrigued, cocking his head to the side.

"Well then," headmaster Akaashi nodded his head, waving his hand at Nishinoya. "Tell me."

_Yuu,_

_How is school going? I haven't had any letters from the headmaster about your grades, which I thought was very skeptical at first, and then I checked and see a long list of things you've been doing instead of studying. You got sent to the headmaster's office 50 times, did you? What exactly were you doing each time? I told you so many times not to be reckless if your grades aren't going to improve. If you don't increase your average to at least 10% higher you're really going to be in for it during the holidays._

_You haven't written to me or dad, have you? Your father says you wrote once but I think your friends made you do that, right? Because you certainly haven't been writing me any letters. I'm writing to you now because I need to make sure you're not misbehaving anymore. I starting think that you forget that when you come home, I'm there too. This year was no exception._

_I won't lie though, what got my attention was the notice on Halloween night. What were you thinking? I told you not to get into any conflict or fights anymore. I'm getting tired being written letters all the time. Do you know how awkward it is for me to be discipling other students at another school while my own kid is constantly getting detention? The only reason you haven't been expelled yet is because your father begs constantly to just give you another chance._

_Keep this up and you're joining me at Beauxbatons._

_Anyway, the headmaster of Hogwarts also mentioned all about how you and his son are getting along. How long has this been going on for? Why didn't you tell me? Invite them over once in a while. You know I like Ryuu-kun, but I think someone like the headmaster's son would be a nice change. Not that I don't like your other friends, Shouyou-kun is nice too. But just bring him over one day, please. It would be nice to meet the whole family._

_If you care, work has been fine. If you don't, then don't read this paragraph. There was a separation at Beauxbatons as well, but we managed to stop it. Minister Faiji is in a bit of a tight space now and it's mainly thanks to headmaster Akaashi, but the other headmasters should be given some credit as well. Did you tell headmaster Akaashi about the cures for muggle diseases that were found in unicorn hair and Phoenix feathers? If that was you, then I'm glad and maybe I'll use that piece of information as my redemption piece for you. Again, please stop fighting, Yuu.  
Beauxbatons isn't separated anymore for good reason. Hogwarts is a bit more difficult because headmaster Akaashi was the one who started the movement, but just know that the adults are doing their best, okay? Please stop raging._

_Your father also would like to send you some books to read. He heard that you've been around Ravenclaws lately and think that reading has something to do with it. I think it's a good idea to get you reading, but I questioned your attention span so they're all fiction books. Read them. I'll be testing you every week, so along with the letter you send back attach an essay about the book you read. I'll read it thoroughly._

_Invite the Azume family to Christmas this year. I want to meet his parents, even if one of them is a muggle. We haven't talked about this, and I thought we could do it face-to-face but it seems like now is a crucial time, so I'll just write it._

_Mom is not against muggles. Maybe I should have been acting more, so I'll be doing that from now on. We should have been doing something as a family to make ourselves more aware - we'll be talking about that during the holidays as well. Headmaster Akaashi sent me a letter about your little campaigns and flyers as well. Don't hurt anybody please. I'll let you continue otherwise, just make sure you're putting accurate information._

_With that being said, I'll end the letter here. Read your books, study hard and for the love of Merlin, **stop getting in trouble**._

_I love you, Yuu-Yuu-chan,_

_Mom ^3^_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it (a bit of a shorter chapter, I didn't realize!). I love Nishinoya so much ꒰´꒳`꒱. Some more content creators!
> 
> |Lifeline by Frosty Mochi - It's a new fanfic here on Ao3 about Hinata being a stalking neighbour to Kageyama - interesting, isn't it? Go check it out, it's only one chapter as of August 2020, but I hope they continue! 
> 
> |hands_on_my_eyes_ - An art account on Instagram. They post lots of Ushiten and that is my crack - please check them out!
> 
> |dcon43 - A Tumblr account that posts lots and lots of Asanoya fanart and AUs and I think we need more of that in life. So wholesome, so cute - please check them out!
> 
> Also, I know I didn't think I would do this but I think I would love to talk to some readers and get to know those who would like to! So I'm dropping my Tumblr haha!
> 
> My Tumblr : teungteungah
> 
> Follow me if you'd like, I'd love to talk to some of you who would like to! Thank you again, have a good day/night, everyone!


	40. Oikawa

Date : November 12 1997

Time : 3:58 PM

Current Location : Library

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"How many times do I have to tell you to put the books back where you got them from?" Oikawa scolded, taking the stack that was on the desk in front of him, starting to shelf them back into their respective spots. He let out an annoyed and loud sigh to show just how irritating it was to pick them up and put them back when the people who used them were right there and could do this themselves. Oikawa wasn't a maid.

"That's what you're here for," Kunimi snickered, putting his feet on the desk and reading his book. "You're the one who wanted to become a library helper."

Oikawa didn't want to become a library helper. He just ended up here because only library helpers were allowed to stay pass curfew hours in the library. The librarian would leave and the whole place was basically Oikawa's. So he agreed to be a library helper in exchange for a few extra hours in the library.  
And it wasn't a hard job until the Slytherin house found out and started using the library as a hang out place instead of what it was supposed to be for.

"At least be quiet," Oikawa narrowed his eyes at Kunimi, pushing his feet off the desk. "And respectful. Treat it like your house.""You know, I never understood that," Kunimi said with a sigh, lifting his feet up on another desk. "It's not my house. Why would I treat it like it? And what if I treat my house like shit? Would you still be saying that?" Oikawa wanted to smack that smart mouth of his but just went back to shelving instead.

"What book are you reading?" Kindaichi asked, looking over Kunimi's shoulder to see the pages, but Kunimi just showed him the cover. "' _Dragons And Their Natural Habitat_ '. I recommend it. You should ask Oikawa-san to get another copy for you."

Oikawa wasn't sure how Kunimi and Kindaichi became friends since they weren't in the same house and neither were on the starting line up for Quidditch, but instead of pondering over the weird mix of people he glared at both of them and pointed to the door.

"If you just want to make my life harder then just leave! You're no help!"  
"We weren't trying to help you," Kunimi shrugged, sticking the tip of his tongue out, making Oikawa fuming red. Kindaichi laugh, pulling Kunimi's tongue playfully that made Kunimi giggle in a way that Oikawa has _never_ heard before and actually made him pause for a moment. So even Kunimi could make a face like that.

"Yer so fuckin' annoyin'! Ai'bet yer tha son tha' wasn' planned, eh?" Oikawa flinched when he heard the familiar dialect, stronger but the same, from the desk a few spaces down. 

"Don' go on sayin' tha'! Even if one of us weren' planned I was still mum's favourite, ya know? She tells me all the time!"  
"Horse shit!" Atsumu screamed, the librarian having to settle them down and shushing them. Oikawa didn't want to interfere, figuring it was a sibling quarrel instead of a real fight, but the librarian gave him a look, telling Oikawa to break it up. Begrudgingly, Oikawa went over to the twins, trying to settle them down as well.

"Okay, okay, you two. Calm down," Oikawa said but Atsumu just looked up in disgust. "I ain't calmin' down for no one!" Actually, Oikawa didn't know which was Atsumu or Osamu. They were both making the same facial expression and they were both looking at him. It didn't help that they both sounded the exact same too, because Oikawa was now extra confused.

"I wanna dye ma hair but this little rascal is askin' to join meh!" Who Oikawa thinks is Atsumu exclaimed loudly, glaring at his brother, to which the other just gave him the finger. "Is there a law sayin' tha' I can't dye ma own hair?""Ya can't if I said it first!"

This was outside Oikawa's job description. He didn't know how to break them up and he wasn't even sure which twin was which. He also didn't want to be the one to tell them that dying their hair would be a good way to decipher who was who - that would be someone else's call.

"Did you grow again?"  
".75 centimetres! I'm so glad you can notice! I think I'll catch up to Ushijima-san by the end of the year!" Oikawa's attention was moved when he heard Goshiki and Shirabu on the other end of the library, which shouldn't have been a problem but he rarely ever saw them in here. So that meant, like every other Slytherin that was in here, they were treating it like a hotspot and just chilling.

"No way," Shirabu scoffed. "Ushijima-san is a tree. You're, like, a shrub compared to him.""If I'm a shrub then you're grass!" Oikawa sighed, wanting to whine about how troublesome it was to control his Slytherin house, especially since he was the only 6th year around and the oldest among them so far. No 7th years spent their time in the library, not their free time anyway.

"Come on you two. At least pretend like you're reading," Oikawa went over to them, seeing Shirabu and Goshiki sitting on the big comfy seats in the library that was meant for the people who were studying.

"Oikawa-san!" Goshiki greeted excitedly, waving at him. "Ah, we should go then. Let's go, Shirabu.""But I'm comfortable," Shirabu said obnoxiously, like he was doing it purposefully. He probably was doing it purposefully, actually, just to piss of Oikawa! 

"You have a nice, big, comfy couch in the common room," Oikawa told them, gritting his teeth. "Go make your noises over there.""Tell Yahaba-kun and his boyfriend to stop making out on it then." Shirabu scoffed, swiping his bangs to the side as if they looked good. "I'm gonna start finding cum stains on it if we leave them too long there." Oikawa grimaced, not liking how Shirabu put but instead of making a big deal he decided to target to Goshiki, who was a little more receptive to his senior's words.

"Go on, Goshiki-kun. Listen to Oikawa-san. If you two aren't studying then go somewhere else-""Ushijima-san!" Oikawa flinched at the sudden excited tone from Goshiki, turning around to see a slightly surprised Ushijima entering the library.  
If Oikawa's day couldn't get any better.

"What are you doing here?" Oikawa wanted to interject with something snarky, but Ushijima spoke before he could. "Picking up a few books," Ushijima said, walking over to them, nodding his head at Oikawa. "Oikawa has become a library helper, I heard," Ushijima stated, Oikawa beaming and waiting for some sort of praise or compliment out of it. How dumb he was to think Ushijima would say something of the sort.

"Out of all the ways to help the school that was what you chose?"

Oikawa's mouth opened in shock that someone could say such a thing, no matter how close you were or if you were rivals at a school sport. It took him by surprise and clearly Shirabu and Goshiki as well.

"Excuse me?" Oikawa scoffed in disbelief, but Ushijima's expression didn't change. He was serious, not a trace of mocking or sarcasm there. Which made the situation much worse.

"As a captain and a senior student you decide to help in the second least used room of the whole school? Next to the dungeon downstairs that has not been used in a century." Oikawa furrowed his eyebrows at Ushijima, putting his hands on his hips. "That can't be right-"  
"And you decide to use the library as a socializing spot for friends," Ushijima remarked, looking around the room to see a whole bunch of Slytherins chatting and having a good time. Admittedly not a good scene on Oikawa's side.

"Unimpressive." 

Oikawa felt his neck heating up, not believing anyone could have the audacity to say that to his face. And he wanted to bite back and scream that Ushijima was just a dumb butt.  
"And what exactly are you doing, Mr. Ravenclaw Captain?"  
"I am a prefect," Ushijima answered frankly. "I keep the school safe, monitor students and their behaviour an occasionally am called for outside work. Leading me to my task at hand," Ushijima turned away, like the conversation before him wasn't happening. "I am here to pick up a book." Ushijima walked over to the front desk. not even letting Oikawa say something back, and Oikawa was starting to think that Ushijima didn't even care what he had to say.

As he watched Ushijima talk to the librarian, getting a few books that were tied nicely together with a ribbon, he started walking back over to the Slytherins, nodding his head at them. "Good day, then. Keep up the good work."

Oikawa's jaw dropped, his eyes not leaving Ushijima's back as he exited the library, as if nothing happened and he didn't completely offend Oikawa. That just happened - Ushijima just insulted Oikawa like it was nothing, like it was the easiest thing on Earth to do. And all he did was leave? Not even smirking and acting like his goal was to offend Oikawa.  
He just did it as if he were talking the same way he did day to day.

"Woah," Goshiki said in amazement. "He's so cool!"  
"Goshiki!"

The amount of confessions didn't go down this year and the fact that Iwaizumi wasn't beside Oikawa to stray off those desperate girls wasn't exactly helpful. Oikawa thought he would be spending the whole year breaking hearts.

"Pew pew motherfuckers!" Nishinoya screamed, blasting his wand around the hallways, laughing hard as he watched fireworks going off. It was enough to get everyone away from Oikawa, not just the girls who wanted to confess. It probably wasn't Nishinoya's intention to do so, in fact all he was trying to do was show Oikawa a new trick he learned in class.  
Thankfully, Nishinoya's failures served a purpose.

"So it's actually supposed to be fog it creates, but _booms_ are pretty good too!" Nishinoya said with a smile, looking to Oikawa to see his reaction. Oikawa clapped, grinning as he saw the fear in everyone's eyes as him and Nishinoya walked passed. Never was someone scared of Oikawa. Intimidated, yes. Inferior, perhaps. Jealous, of course. But never scared.

He was starting to understand why Nishinoya was fearless and the adrenaline rush that came with it.

"I've never seen that spell before," Oikawa pointed out, looking up at the ceiling, the after shower of the fireworks still in the air. "What is it?""Kenma and I made it!" Nishinoya said proudly, puffing his chest out. "An original spell by us, for us. Pretty impressive, isn't it?"

Oikawa knew that Nishinoya was a powerful wizard. It went without saying. From his wand to the fact that Nishinoya didn't even need one sometimes, not even Oikawa could deny that Nishinoya was a terrifyingly strong wizard and even person. It just wasn't possible to ignore.  
When it was pointed out to him that Oikawa was the only one that was able to keep up with him so far, it obviously blew his ego up a bit too.

Cute, pretty Oikawa Tooru that had nothing to offer but a nice face, keeping up with Nishinoya Yuu? It was unsaid, but an extreme compliment that Oikawa liked to remind himself when he was a little bit behind some others. Especially the prodigies in class that had magic come easy to them, like Daichi or something. They studied and made an effort, but in the end they were born good at magic as well. Kageyama was also one of them.

"Impressive," Oikawa agreed with a nod, the two of them walking down the hall together, making their way to the Gryffindor Tower where Nishinoya was planning on showing him a few more posters he made, mainly so Oikawa could proof read them. It wasn't the most fun way to spend an evening, but Oikawa couldn't think of anything else to do. Besides, this muggle campaign of his was something Nishinoya was genuinely passionate about, so Oikawa could spend a few hours on it too.

"Daichi-san! I'm back before curfew!" Nishinoya yelled in the common room, Oikawa quietly walking behind him and following him inside. "Hi, Tobio-kun. Hey, Yutarou. Doing homework?" Nishinoya went up to them, ruffling their hair and laughing when they tried swatting Nishinoya away. "Keep studying hard!" Oikawa eyed Kageyama as they went up the stairs together, trying not to look at him too much but couldn't help it.

"Make sure you don't fail, Tobio-chan," Oikawa said in a cocky voice, chuckling at the way Kageyama scowled at him. "I'm just making sure you're doing alright. Study hard."

What Oikawa also noticed about Nishinoya was that he was a good senior. Not that Oikawa wasn't or anything, but Nishinoya had personal relationships with all his juniors and treated them like younger siblings, which was pretty hard when it came to a big house. But Nishinoya did it, and it seemed to give all the juniors a settling feeling with him and an approaching personality despite how loud and obnoxious he was.

"What's your deal with Tobio-kun?" Nishinoya asked, and this wasn't the first time either. "Whenever you two are together it's like there's lightening everywhere. And I should know, I can make lightening!"

Ever since Oikawa's harsh words 3 years ago, when little Kageyama was scarily told by Oikawa to leave him alone already, they haven't spoken. All Oikawa did was watch him grow up to become even more stronger, talented, and- _ugh_ \- cooler. Oikawa watched it all unfold, and because of his pride he hasn't reconciled at all, not even an attempt. Even if Iwaizumi told him he was being a child over the problem.

"Complicated past," Oikawa shrugged it off like it was nothing, walking into Nishinoya's room and flopping on his bed. He's been there enough times that he could act like it was his own room.

"Well, it's weird," Nishinoya said bluntly, unrolling a few parchments and showing Oikawa his new designs. Bright red and orange seemed to be Nishinoya's favourite colours, along with yellow accents and shimmering glittery sparkles on the bolded letters. It definitely made a statement, and he couldn't even begin to imagine what he would do when he charmed all those flyers.

"You two are good wizards. You should get along," Nishinoya smiled widely at Oikawa, giving him a thumbs up. "You're a good senior too! Tobio-kun deserves another male figure worth looking up to in his life!"

Oikawa didn't know Kageyama's family situation in detail, but by that statement he could take a guess. He never thought about patching up things with Kageyama, but the older he got the more he did come to a realization how stupid it must be to be upset with someone for just being naturally better at him for something. It didn't mean it hurt less, or jabbed his heart any lighter. His pride was still pushed down in the dirt and spat on like it was nothing.  
But he was growing. Maybe that was all that mattered in the end.

"How were you getting those muggle newspapers?" Nishinoya asked, snapping Oikawa out of his thoughts. "Sorry?""The muggle newspapers. Where did you get them?" Nishinoya asked again, looking up at Oikawa from the ground.

"Ah, those," Oikawa nodded his head, remembering that he's been smuggling those in for the past few days for him and Nishinoya to read. "I fish them out of the trashcan." Nishinoya choked on his spit, his eyes widening when Oikawa openly admitted it.

"What?"

For the past few days, when Oikawa would clean out the library, apart of his job was taking out the trash. He noticed it after a few times that one of the pages of the newspaper had still photos, not a single tree or bush moving in a photo of a park. It was suspicious but he didn't think anything of it until Nishinoya briefly mentioned one day that muggle photos don't move (which was the creepiest thing ever). So Oikawa took it out of the trash and read it, finding out not to shortly after that he was reading muggle news.  
Jump to present day, where they've been reading the newspapers together and Oikawa and him were being updated on all the lates muggle news.

"Yeah, they're from the trash," Oikawa shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant about it but in reality he hated dumpster diving and felt dumb every time he did it. "Why?" Nishinoya blinked at him for a second then shook his head, taking the stack of flyers he had on the ground and bringing them up to Oikawa, showing him his plans.

"I wanted to cut some of the pages out and paste them on some of these flyers. So people can read it too. What do you think?" Oikawa looked at Nishinoya, watching as his hair flopped down over his eyes, his little tongue sticking out in concentration as he was orienting each part of the flyer. The amount of passion in his words and actions was tremendous.  
It made Oikawa wonder if he would find anything he was that passionate about.

Oikawa liked the movement. Muggle justice, equality for muggle borns, he was all for it. But to get to Nishinoya's level was near impossible because Nishinoya was also fighting for a certain muggle born. Oikawa couldn't compete with him in this. 

"I think," Oikawa said slowly, nodding his head. "It's a good idea."

The Ravenclaw Tower was terrifying. Not only because Oikawa had to fix it every night without magic, having the ones in the rooms Oikawa and Akaashi blew up glaring at them every night sending chills down Oikawa's spine. But because Oikawa just wasn't that fond of Ravenclaws in the first place. Know-it-all smartasses - what worse combination could you make?

"You are doing that wrong," Ushijima said bluntly, towering over Oikawa as he watched Oikawa pasting cement on one of the stones so he could glue another stone on top of it. "You should be stroking it vertically, not horizontally."

Of course, Oikawa had to be doing Ushijima's room tonight. Akaashi was on the other end, fixing up the other side of the room and efficiently working, but no, Ushijima didn't have to nitpick what he was doing and telling Akaashi he should be doing things a different way.

"Would you like to do it yourself then?" Oikawa asked, clenching his jaw as he looked up at Ushijima, that same stupid blank, stoic expression on his face. "But this is your punishment," Ushijima said calmly, seeming to not notice Oikawa's expression change or his tone of voice clearly pissed off. Oikawa found that even more irritating that Ushijima was so simple minded, he couldn't tell he was upset!

"Just let him do it the way he wants to," Kita - Ushijima's roommate - said, pulling Ushijima away from Oikawa and Oikawa was about to thank him for knocking a bit of sense into Ushijima's mind. "Even if he's doing it wrong."

Oikawa was about to scream his head off. Were all Ravenclaws like this? Because that's certainly what it felt like. Even Akaashi would talk to him like this sometimes, though it was more subtle and he seemed to have a better feel for human emotions.

"Would you both prefer you do it yourselves then?" Oikawa asked in frustration, dropping the scraper he was using to spread the cement and stood up, crossing his arms over his chest. "Since I'm obviously not doing it 'properly'." Oikawa used a voice when he said 'properly', mocking the Ravenclaws, but their expressions didn't change. They were just looking at Oikawa.

"But," Ushijima said slowly, Oikawa was about to jump out the big hole in the wall. "You are not doing it properly."

Oikawa yelled out in anger, kicking the scraper in Ushijima's direction, making him flinch. "Then you do it if you're so talented at this! Sorry if I'm so used to magic!" Oikawa clenched his fists, beginning to storm off but a hand stopped him, catching his wrist. Fuming in an exhale, Oikawa turned around to see Akaashi, calm and collected, looking up at Oikawa.

"Oikawa-san," Akaashi said in a soft voice. "Let's just finish this quickly. So you don't have to come to the Ravenclaw Tower again."

Oikawa still hadn't properly apologized to Akaashi. His small attempt in the Gryffindor room shouldn't be counted as one, but every time Oikawa wanted to bring it up it just got awkward and he didn't want to go through.  
Akaashi was so mature, it was almost intimidating.

"Fine," Oikawa said with a small nod, picking up the scraper again, completely ignoring Ushijima and Kita who were watching them intensely, then went back to his side of the wall, using the cement and stones given to them to fix the wall up. They were about half way done since November 1, and had a long way to go from there.

By the end of the session that evening, Oikawa was pooped out, sweating to the point where he took his shirt off and worked shirtless. The Ravenclaw girls were very pleased with this as him and Akaashi left to go to the common room, but Oikawa was too tired to put a shirt on and just walked that way with Akaashi. He couldn't be bothered to look polite right now, especially when dried cement scattered his face and chest, the sweat on his forehead and chest dripping down in a way that might look hot but Oikawa felt disgusting.

"Here," Akaashi said, handing Oikawa a bottle of water, which was a bit surprising since every time Nishinoya offered a drink it was pumpkin juice. Perhaps they didn't rub off on each other as much as he thought.

"Good work today," Akaashi said plainly, making Oikawa nod. He wasn't sure what else to say in this situation, and it didn't seem like they were on conversational terms. The Ravenclaw girls that were in the common room were giggling from the distance, looking over at Oikawa and whispering to each other. Oikawa was very glad he made sure Iwaizumi didn't become a Ravenclaw, or else this would have been a major problem for him.

"I'm sorry," Oikawa finally said after a few minutes of silence, not being able to handle the guilt anymore. "For the way I treated you when the separation happened," Oikawa clarified, looking over at Akaashi. "I'm sorry. Really."

Akaashi looked surprised, to Oikawa's disappointment, and for a moment he thought Akaashi wouldn't have forgave him. "Don't worry about that," Akaashi said with a small smile. "I know what you were feeling. I would have behaved the same way."

It wasn't the answer Oikawa was expecting, but he guessed that Akaashi would be getting shit from other people too besides him about the transfer. "Besides, you're friends with Noya now," Akaashi said, lifting his bottled water up to Oikawa, indicating he wanted them to do a little cheer. "Means you're doing something right. Right?"

Oikawa wasn't sure if that was entirely accurate, but he did hit his bottle against Akaashi's. If Iwaizumi did end up in Ravenclaw back in their first year, then he would only allow him to be friends with Akaashi so far.

Sleep started coming easy for Oikawa around the first of October. Even if Iwaizumi wasn't there next to him anymore, he managed to find comfort in wearing Iwaizumi's sweater instead. No, he has not washed it since September, and sure, it was getting a little gross. But he couldn't find comfort in anything else so far and this was the only thing he had right now.

Along with sleeping with Iwaizumi's sweater though, Oikawa also had nice dreams. He found out through the Miya twins that you could actually control your dreams, you just needed to practice. So Oikawa did practice. Before going to sleep he would look at a picture of him and Iwaizumi, back in the summer during one of their dates, Oikawa sweetly making a peace sign while Iwaizumi punched him on the arm lightly. And if you looked really closely, then you could see Iwaizumi barely smiling.  
Then, once Oikawa had the image vividly in mind, he would fall asleep, and 9/10 times would he be dreaming about Iwaizumi.

Tonight was no exception.

Little butterfly kisses started peppering his face, tickling Oikawa and making him giggle, scrunching his nose up. He could see Iwaizumi in front of him, repeatedly kissing him over and over again, missing his lips each time but that's only because the lips were the big finish. Iwaizumi would kiss his forehead, then his nose, his cheeks, his chin, then went down to his neck where Oikawa insisted he kissed more, even lifting his head up to give Iwaizumi more room to kiss.

"Iwa-chan..." Oikawa mumbled in his sleep, reaching out and holding the back of Iwaizumi's neck and pulling him closer. His dreams were getting better and better apparently, because it was like he could feel Iwaizumi there, his hair tickling his chin as Iwaizumi buried his face in Oikawa's neck, wrapping his arms around Oikawa's neck and pulling him in for a tight hug.

"Oikawa."

Oikawa's eyes snapped open when the voice was in his ear, his heart pounding loudly when he found himself actually in the arms of someone. Not being able to see their face, Oikawa pushed them away, panting softly, only to soften his gaze when he saw who it was.

"Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi was there. In front of Oikawa, Iwaizumi was there. Right before him was Iwaizumi. Which was crazy because Iwaizumi wasn't there, he shouldn't be there. There was only once explanation for this.

"This is another dream," Oikawa gasped, pulling the blankets over his head and shutting his eyes quickly. "I'm getting way too good at this," Oikawa mumbled in panic, shaking his head and trying to block out any signs of crazy he was displaying. "It's a dream. He'll go away when you wake up. You're just dreaming, Tooru. Just a fucking dream, go back to sleep. No, you're already sleeping!"

There was a chuckle outside of Oikawa's safe blanket, a weight beside him on the bed that meant someone was sitting down beside him. "Dumbass," a voice that was scarily exactly like Iwaizumi said, a hand petting Oikawa's hair from over the blanket. "I'm real. Get out from there."

Oikawa's eyes snapped open and in a split second he threw the blankets off himself, turning to see Iwaizumi - the _real_ Iwaizumi - sitting before him. He looked clean and fresh, like not a day passed by where he was depressed Oikawa wasn't with him (which was a little disappointing, but Oikawa was glad he was healthy). Iwaizumi was there, with Oikawa.

"I'm not gonna get a welcome back greeting?"

With a high laugh, Oikawa tackled Iwaizumi down on the bed, scattering kisses all over Iwaizumi's face, squeezing him in a tight hug. Iwaizumi laughed, hugging his waist bak and letting Oikawa do as his heart wanted.

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa cried out, pecking his lips. "I," Oikawa kissed his nose, "missed," his nose, "you," his cheek, "so," his forehead, "much!" Finally, his lips, where Oikawa lingered a little longer until he was deepening the kiss together with Iwaizumi and the two of them were making out on the bed. Oikawa still had morning breath, but Iwaizumi didn't seem to care as he pressed his hands against the small of Oikawa's back, pulling him impossibly closer. Oikawa kept kissing Iwaizumi, forcing his mouth open and having a taste of what he's been missing this whole time before he was running out of breath, pulling away, but not without adding an extra peck on the mouth for good measure.

"You're back," Oikawa mumbled, closing his eyes and letting out a soft sigh. "When I wake up you better not be gone. Or else I'll kill you." Iwaizumi laughed again, giving Oikawa a kiss on the cheek before shaking his head even though Oikawa couldn't see it.

"I'm not going anywhere."

The two of them stayed on the bed together for another five minutes before Iwaizumi rolled Oikawa over and told him they needed to at least talk. "I don't have any questions," Oikawa said with a blissful sigh, taking Iwaizumi by the collar of the shit and pulling him down for another kiss. "I'm just happy you're home."

Which was a big flaw on Oikawa's part. He shouldn't have been so blinded by the fact that Iwaizumi was back because if Oikawa has learned anything these past few months, there had to be some sort of price or catch with this. Iwaizumi wasn't back because the Ministry all of a sudden felt nice. He had to have some sort of purpose. Oikawa didn't want to think that far ahead though.

"Only the pure bloods went back home," Iwaizumi said softly, laying on his side and stroking Oikawa's hair out of his face, a gentle manner that Oikawa would bask in while he could. "The muggle borns are still at the other school."

This got Oikawa's attention for two reasons. One, Iwaizumi was upset with this. He wasn't even trying to hide it, it was clear he was upset with it by his face and tone of voice, therefore it was bothering Oikawa as well. Because if Iwaizumi was upset, then Oikawa wanted to do something so he wasn't upset anymore. That was what any good boyfriend or partner would do.

But two, Oikawa was upset with this as well. Maybe a few months ago he wouldn't have cared. He would've said something like 'so? You're back, that's all that matters'. And maybe deep down, Oikawa could have found it in himself to say that now as well.   
But he couldn't. Not when he saw Nishinoya working so hard night and day to fight for muggle injustice, researching and inquiring like never before. Not when he read those newspapers and found out how in need the muggles were for a simple cure that the wizarding world could easily give to them where no hunting was needed. Not when Oikawa found himself becoming friends with muggle borns, and if he gave it a chance, maybe a muggle one day as well.

"Why?" It was a simple question, but he felt like it was worth asking. "Minister Faiji's orders. No one was too happy with it," Iwaizumi said solemnly, letting out a soft sigh. Oikawa gave him a tight smile, pulling him in for another hug and kissing his forehead in attempt to comfort him. Without saying anything, Iwaizumi hugged him back, tightening his arms around Oikawa.

"I wasn't able to do anything."

Iwaizumi's heart was as pure as it got when it came to helping others. And Oikawa knew it must have broken that pure heart of his when he had to watch him leave the muggle born students at the school without much time or explanation.

"It's not your fault," Oikawa said, though he could hear how lame that sounded. Iwaizumi hummed in Oikawa's neck, nodding his head shortly, Oikawa didn't even feel it. Oikaw could feel Iwaizumi's heartbeat against his, and if this wasn't what peace was then Oikawa would never know.

"Isn't it though?"

Oikawa noticed at breakfast that the pure bloods were back. The population of students was noticeably bigger. Oikawa could see that not everyone was happy with the reverse transfer, for example, Futakuchi made a statement about it by fuming at everyone and pointing his wand at everyone who started talking to him. He ended up turning Atsumu into a pig and Osamu had to spend the morning trying to figure out if he wanted to turn him back or not.

"Iwaizumi-san!" Nishinoya exclaimed in surprise when he came to the Slytherin table. "Pure bloods are really back, huh?" Tanaka was behind him, being as loud as usual and screaming at everyone who greeted him, hugging and patting those who were younger. Oikawa felt a bit sad that he wasn't going to be number one anymore, but Iwaizumi was back anyway so he would have to cancel on Nishinoya more often now too.

"Yeah," Oikawa hummed, patting the seat next to him for Nishinoya to join, but Nishinoya shook his head. "Nah. Since all the pure bloods are back Ryuu and I are gonna do twice the campaigning. You're welcome to join if you want," Nishinoya said, looking between Iwaizumi and Oikawa. Oikawa looked at Iwaizumi but before he could answer Oikawa shook his head, smiling softly at Nishinoya.

"During lunch. Iwa-chan is still settling down," Oikawa said, Nishinoya nodding and saluting to both of them. "We'll be in the front of the Great Hall then!" Nishinoya said with a smile, turning and pulling Tanaka by the arm. "Come on, Ryuu! We have lots to do today!"

Oikawa chuckled as he saw the two of them leaving together, knowing they would be hearing their screaming and cheers throughout breakfast, but he was happy he got a little break from Nishinoya's chaos, though he would miss being followed around all the time like how Nishinoya did. Perhaps he could train Iwaizumi to be a little nicer at least.

"You two are really friends, huh?" Iwaizumi said, raising his eyebrows, looking at Oikawa. "Weird." Oikawa grinned, holding in a giggle and wiggling his eyebrows at Iwaizumi.

"Is Iwa-chan jealous-""You're really pushing it," Iwaizumi growled, making Oikawa laugh. Even if Iwaizumi was a little mean, he wouldn't have it any other way. Because that was the Iwaizumi that Oikawa fell in love with.

"Things are going to be back to normal," Oikawa said happily, picking at his food and taking a big bite. Now he was able to eat properly again, with Iwaizumi in front of him and the two of them talking like before. No other way would he have wanted this.

"Almost normal," Iwaizumi reminded him, looking down the long table of Slytherins, and even though the Slytherin table was pretty full, Oikawa knew what he was talking about. Sugawara, Semi and Tendou were still gone, along with a few others that Oikawa couldn't remember the names of. It was important they came back of course, but Oikawa just wanted to relax for one day with Iwaizumi and at least pretend the world was okay.

"Oikawa-san." Oikawa jumped when he was suddenly called, turning around to see professor Takeda there, smiling down at him. "Good morning! Are you busy right now?" Oikawa looked from his breakfast to Iwaizumi, then back at professor Takeda.

"Kind of.""Oh, well, the headmaster would like to talk to you," professor Takeda said, his bright face not dulling one bit. "Whenever you have time after breakfast, just head up. Okay?" Oikawa nodded slowly, watching professor Takeda leave, then looked back at Iwaizumi with a small pout on his face.

"Why do bad things happen to good people, Iwa-chan?"  
"Become a good person and you'll find out why."

Oikawa never liked the headmaster's office, no matter how many times he was sent there. For one, the headmaster had no personal items. He had a family but no photos of them anywhere, not even a globe or something that was his. It was very uncomfortable, the whole room felt cold.

Whenever Oikawa was sent to the headmaster's office it was never for a good thing either. Granted, when you were called up to the headmaster's office it was rarely a good thing, but with Oikawa never once had he been up there for an award or just a simple chat like maybe Kuroo or Kenma. And after how he treated Akaashi in the beginning of the year, even if he apologized, he didn't think that would change any time soon.

"Oikawa-san," headmaster Akaashi greeted with a small smile. "Thank you for coming."

'You asked me to come,' Oikawa thought to himself, but obviously didn't say it out loud. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions. I'm sure you noticed a change in students this morning." Oikawa nodded slowly, feeling like this was the perfect opportunity to ask for some specifics about the whole 'pure bloods were transferred back' situation. He decided he would wait till it was his turn to talk though.

"How do you feel about that?"

Oikawa stopped at the question, looking curiously over at headmaster Akaashi, trying to figure out if he heard correctly. "I'm sorry?" Headmaster Akaashi gave him a soft smile, resting his elbows on the desk and his chin on the back of his hand.

"How do you feel about Iwaizumi-san coming back without any of the muggle borns there to join him?"

Oikawa was so close to saying he didn't care if the muggle borns came back. So close, but he bit his tongue back and didn't say anything for a moment. That wasn't how he felt, actually, because he knew it wasn't right. His friends were waiting for people to come back, Nishinoya was waiting for Asahi, Akaashi was waiting for Bokuto. It wasn't fair that coincidentally, the person Oikawa was waiting for was a pure blood.

"A wizard came back to a wizarding school to learn," Oikawa stated simply, looking at headmaster Akaashi firmly, trying his best not to be scared or intimidated by the situation he was in. "All of them deserve to come back. As long as they're a wizard or witch."

Headmaster Akaashi gave a nod, his face looking like he was proud of Oikawa's answer, which Oikawa had very mixed feelings about. This talk was supposed to be questioning him but if headmaster Akaashi had answers he wanted then what was the point? If it were like that then you might as well call it a test.

"Thank you for your honesty," headmaster Akaashi said, taking out a parchment and quill, writing something down that Oikawa didn't bother try reading. "Now, I'm just going to record your next few answers, I hope you don't mind," headmaster Akaashi said, making Oikawa raise an eyebrow but he nodded, sitting up a little straighter and preparing himself for any question.  
Why did he feel so nervous? As long as he was honest, this shouldn't have to be so nerve-wracking.

"First," headmaster Akaashi cleared his throat, looking back up at Oikawa, his smile not leaving his face, probably to make Oikawa feel more at ease. It didn't work, unfortunately. Oikawa still felt like he was under interrogation.

"What have you been doing with those muggle newspapers you find in the garbage?"

_Tooru-chan!!_

_How are you? It's been so long since I've written to you! I'm so sorry, you know how busy life can be sometimes! Ah, I'm so excited to write to you! I don't even know where to start now. When was the last time we talked properly? Last Christmas? That was almost a year ago! And I wasn't able to be there for your birthday, I'm really sorry! I wanted to make it but I had work. But you got my gift, right? I'll bring you something bigger for Christmas!_

_Work has been a lot, a lot, a lot of fun! I got moved to the Magical Creatures unit so now I'm supervising those working with them as well. It's so sad and disheartening what has been happening in the news lately with the muggles and stuff. I need to research more on it, but I'm sure you've heard. A few were caught a few days ago! Can you believe the scary world we live in? Crazy!_

_But be kind to everyone, okay, Tooru-chan? Don't be mean to too many people (unless they deserve it I guess). It won't be good karma. I think I'm going to go in disguise in the muggle world for a business trip soon, so wish me luck there! I hope I don't have a hard time and give away my position. That'll be unfortunate. I'll be sure to get you a souvenir though!_

_How is school going? Are you doing well? I'm sure you are! Because Tooru-chan is the brightest boy I know and passing all your classes! Maybe you should join me here at the Council of Magic since we're always looking for hard working people. Hopefully you find something you love to do though, because I would hate to force you by my side. But wouldn't it be fun?_

_How is Haji-chan? You two are still friends, right? I would be absolutely heartbroken if you aren't. You two were so cute as kids, basically inseparable The last time I saw him must be...Christmas last year too! Oh, I guess you two are still friends then... It would be awkward if you two are roommates and classmates and aren't friends anymore, I suppose. Cherish each other, okay? Friendships like that are hard to come by.  
I just had a random memory - when you and Haji-chan were 7 and trying to make your own love potions. Adorable! I wish I could have recorded that! Good thing it's vivid in my memory though, I can pull it out whenever!_

_Takeru misses you a lot, he won't stop talking about you! He's asking when's the next time you're coming over is. To be honest, he actually asks for Haji-chan, but I know he misses you too! There's no way he doesn't miss his favourite uncle._

_Anyway, mom just called me to tell me to tell you that she doesn't want you misbehaving anymore. She didn't tell me the details, but I'm sure it wasn't too bad! Tooru-chan is a good boy, I know it!_

_I hope I can keep writing to you. I can't wait to have you write back!! I love you a lot, don't forget that. And tell Haji-chan I say hi! If you two can write back that would be so cool!_

_Study hard!_

_Nee-chan_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I had fun with this chapter. There's too much IwaOi angst - we need more fluff!! Anyway, here are some more content creators I would like to recommend :
> 
> |Please Don't Stir It by lumosflies - An Asanoya fic that is fluffy and a little angsty. Adorable and goes through the canon universe, so that's fun! Recommend for a quick read!
> 
> |veletari - Another art account on Instagram that posts Haikyuu and a few other fandoms. They post quite a bit of Asanoya, but honestly she posts a lot of them in general. Hope you check them out!
> 
> Unfortunately I only have two for this chapter :(. But anyway, thank you for reading. I know these days have been crazy and 2020 is crazy, so if reading this was able to make your day in any way, even just a little bit, I'm happy! I hope we can all get through life without too much stress or difficulty, and even if you need a few minutes to do something for yourself, whether it's reading a chapter of a fic or taking a few deep breaths, then do it. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  
> Thank you everyone and have an amazing day/night!


	41. Daichi

Date : November 13 1997

Time : 11:16 AM

Current Location : Astrology Class

Status : Mission - Accomplished (of course)

Daichi wasn't the only one who was pissed off with the new turn of events that happened with the transfer. In fact, he among 90% of the school was ready to do something, say something to the headmaster and even take a stand and do a bit of a rebellion.  
Only thing was no one was really initiating anything. Which was causing a lot of setbacks. 

"Mercuries moons align once every 50 years," the professor said, levitating their piece of chalk on the black board and writing down notes of the lessons, Daichi copying them word for word along with adding his own notes on the side.

"When these moons align, the magic properties of centaurs actually strengthen. Making their predictions more accurate and almost 100% true." There were a few snickers and giggles behind Daichi from the Slytherins. 

"Imagine having to wait 50 years just to be powerful," Daishou chuckled, making all the Slytherins around him laugh as well, but the professor didn't say anything about it. Daichi never really minded their commentary and noise, in fact sometimes he thought it was funny. But now that Sugawara wasn't there with them, still at that deranged, disgusting school, Daichi couldn't help but get a little annoyed.

"Hey," Daichi turned around, glaring at Daishou and the Slytherins around him, including Oikawa and Iwaizumi - Iwaizumi who just came back from the same school as Sugawara - and a few others. The group of them stopped laughing, looking back at Daichi.

"You wanna shut up for a second? Some of us actually want a future outside of Hogwarts."

The Slytherins didn't respond, staring at Daichi, but oddly not in the condescending way he was used to. "Our bad, Sawamura-kun," Oikawa waved his hand at him, smiling brightly that Daichi was skeptical as to what he was thinking about. "Go and write your notes. We'll be more quiet."

Daichi nodded his head, but didn't say thank you like he normally would have. He wasn't in that great of a mood, especially seeing Oikawa and Iwaizumi happily together. (Oikawa looked happy, anyway) while Daichi was sulking on his own because his boyfriend was 'unfortunately' born by muggles. It wasn't fair, there was a lot wrong with that, but Daichi didn't know what to do.

"Centaurs are able to tell the future. Although their way of explanations are a little funny," the teacher continued on. "They are not able to tell specifics, however they will give a vague analogy with the stars. I just wouldn't recommend that you go to a centaur for a future telling." The class giggled softly, except for Daichi. What he would give just to be told the future.  
And to be told that his future was a good one where him and Sugawara live happily ever after.

When the class was over Daichi was quick to leave, packing his bag up swiftly and racing out, not wanting to talk to anyone in particular and just get to lunch where he could read his books and do work. Which was how he usually spent his days coping when something was upsetting him - drowning himself in work and pretending the rest of the world didn't exist.

"Sawamura-kun!" A voice called out, making Daichi inwardly groaned but he put on a friendly face and turned around, a little surprised to see Iwaizumi coming up to him. They weren't friends, but they didn't hate each other, supposedly.

"Sorry about class. I hope we didn't get you too distracted." Daichi shook his head, putting a small smile on his face but it was impossible for Daichi to be fake. It was quite obvious that Daichi didn't want to be there and wanted to get out of the conversation quickly, his eyes shifting to the side every so often and not quite looking at Iwaizumi. Hopefully Iwaizumi didn't take too much offence.

"The transfer is a bit overwhelming, huh? I mean, the students who came back," Iwaizumi chuckled awkwardly, Daichi nodding in agreement and getting impatient, wanting Iwaizumi to just get to the point. "Are you okay?"

Daichi was a bit shocked at the question, wondering if that was all Iwaizumi came to him to ask, but he tried his best not to show it. Again, Daichi wasn't exactly the best at keeping his expressions that unreadable.

"I'm...yeah, I'm fine," Daichi coughed, but Iwaizumi didn't look convinced. If he did care, Iwaizumi didn't say anything about it, probably because he wasn't socially challenged and knew Daichi wanted to leave as soon as possible, not because he didn't want to talk to Iwaizumi, but because Iwaizumi was just a big, obnoxious reminder that he was back and Sugawara was not.

"Good, good, uh, well, I have something for you," Iwaizumi said, looking around and leaning in to Daichi's space, pulling out a piece of folded paper from his pocket and passing it to Daichi, very suspiciously if anyone saw them. "Read it when you're on your own," Iwaizumi whispered before pulling away, giving Daichi a pat on a back and an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry too much, Sawamura-kun," Iwaizumi said, holding up a fist at Daichi, but Daichi was still processing the piece of paper Iwaizumi slipped him as if it were some sort of illegal drug. "Things are going to get so much better from now on."

_Daichi-kun,_

_When I'm writing this, phone calls for muggle borns aren't allowed anymore. Halloween is over - which I'm disappointed with, but I'll rant about that after - and I have a lot to say, just not too much time to say it. Pure bloods were called back to Hogwarts after fighting with headmaster Akaashi. I just wanted to update you with as much as I can without trouble. I don't want you to worry too much - because you worry too much over nothing sometimes!_

_I'm fine, everyone is fine here. Hinata is a bit rowdier than usual lately, Bokuto and Kuroo seem to be more restless and at the moment Tanaka is jumping up and down the walls either over excitement or frustration, I can't really tell. Either way, everyone has a lot of energy after the announcement and I'm not sure what to do. Yet I have everything under control - funny, isn't it?  
I think Lev is crying. I can hear him from the other room, but it might be someone else. I'm pretty sure it's Lev though. Terushima started chanting 'Fuck the Ministry' loudly and got a detention. Not sure what the detentions are like here yet, but I could suppose they're pretty bad. Though, I can't imagine what could be worse than what they're doing to us now. Kogane is as social as usual. All in all, everything isn't as bad as you'd think._

_I don't know how much you've heard about this school, but maybe asking Kozume-kun or Akaashi-kun should do it. The food they serve here is about a fourth of what I usually eat, the meat is raw, I have to sleep on the cold ground and the laundry soap is just the bar soap we use on our bodies. I haven't bathed with warm water in about 4 weeks (Bokuto insists he needs hot water or else he won't shower. We can't have that). Things haven't gotten worse though, so I think that's a good thing. And don't worry about whether I can handle it because you know I'm strong! I'm just worried about everyone else._

_Halloween night was disappointing. I really wanted to spend it along with just the two of us because I haven't gotten my Daichi-Time in so long. Unfortunately, things happened and we blew up the school. Curse Nishinoya-kun for catching us. It's okay though, I'm sure he's gotten enough detention to compensate for the deprivation he caused me. Hope he has a moment ruined in the future..._

_Anyway, the reason why I wanted to send this letter was because I wanted to update you on what has been going on on my end of the school. Things aren't looking that great, if I were being honest. Right when the pure bloods left they became harsher. All the boys are in one room and girls in another - it's very crowded. Showers are now only once a week, and even though some of the boys don't mind I think I'm about to go insane (Tendou's not having a great time with it either). They don't serve meat anymore. I'm really going to go crazy._

_How are things on your end? I know you probably can't reply, but I feel like it's socially expected to ask. I can guess that technically, you're okay, but knowing you, you're worried again._

_Is it bad that I'm a little upset you're not only worried about me?_

_I'm just joking! You being worried about everyone and having a caring heart is one of the many things I love about you. So keep thinking about others! Just make sure I'm number one among them._

_I can't write for much longer. I can see the pure bloods leaving. Just know that we're okay, we're behaving and we'll be back at Hogwarts in no time. I hope you're doing well, and I miss you so much._

_I love you,_

_Suga_

Daichi was locked in a bathroom stall as he read the letter, biting his lip hard and trying to figure out what to do once he processed all the information Sugawara just gave him. There wasn't much to go off of, honestly. The muggle borns were still having a hard time and Daichi wasn't exactly sure how to help. This might be the first time that Daichi felt so helpless and clueless when it came to helping his fellow house members, no less Sugawara.

But to be honest, if he were to really think of Sugawara, think about their relationship over the years, maybe he should be even more scared than he already was.

Sugawara undermined his bullying experience, pretended it didn't even exist so that Daichi didn't worry all the time. He didn't want Daichi to know and suffered silently for his comfort.  
What more now? Sugawara couldn't possibly try to think of a way on his own, without Daichi's help, to fix this mess. It wasn't even Sugawara's to fix!

"Ah, professor Takeda is just being a bitch. I just came back!"

By instinct, Daichi quickly crumpled up the letter, putting it back in his pocket and tucking it away. He had to remind himself and remember that he was still at school and he had to get on with the day, not just sulking around about Sugawara's letter.

"Don't say that," the other voice said calmly, Daichi could hear the water running from one of the faucets. "He is just doing his job. As a professor you are supposed to give homework. Even if you did just come back."

Daichi got out of the bathroom stall, flushing the toilet even though he didn't do anything, but he didn't want to look weird either. When he came out he saw Tanaka and Yaku - a weird combination, they must have bonded or something when they were at the other school - and Tanaka was wiping off some gross fluid on his robes. He didn't even want to know.

"Daichi-san!" Tanaka exclaimed greeted excitedly, waving his wet hand at him. "What class do you have?" Daichi looked between the two of them, Yaku leaning on the sink and eyeing Daichi up and down, but Daichi couldn't tell if it was to judge him or he just didn't have Daichi all that figured out.

"I have a spare," Daichi said, going over the sink as well and washing his hands, still pretending like everything was normal. "I take it you have Potions right now?""Yeah," Tanaka sighed, showing Daichi the huge stain he had on his robes that Daichi did not ask to see. "Professor Tanaka said it was best I just write an essay instead. What would I learn about a potion with writing an essay?"

A lot, but Daichi didn't say it out loud. He obviously had more on his mind than Tanaka's stained shirt and trouble with essays. 

"Daichi," Yaku said suddenly, getting Daichi's attention. They were in the same year, but since Daichi hasn't had a class with anyone but Slytherin since year 4, he didn't know too much about him. He was a good Quidditch player, but that was about it. And you couldn't really tell a lot about a person just by the way they play Quidditch.

"Sugawara says hi," Yaku said, getting Daichi to perk up, looking over at him and raising an eyebrow. "Just thought you should know."

There was a tense silence between the two of them, Tanaka turning the faucet off as well. He couldn't tell, again, if Yaku was mocking him or genuinely relaying a message that Sugawara said. But he wrote a whole letter so technically he didn't need Yaku to say anything.  
Or maybe Daichi was overthinking this. Yaku wasn't a bad person, he didn't discriminate muggle borns and pure bloods. Maybe he was genuinely just trying to be friendly and Daichi was just being out of character-ly pessimistic.

"I miss Lev too," Yaku said softly, crossing his arms. "So don't do anything on your own."

Daichi didn't have enough time to process the words and ask Yaku what he meant by that, instead watching Tanaka and him leaving the bathroom while Tanaka ranted about his new stain and his homework.  
But then, it did get Daichi thinking.

If Daichi didn't want Sugawara to do anything on his own, then perhaps Daichi shouldn't want to do anything by himself either.

"I personally think that dragons should be kept as pets," Iwaizumi said as he strolled beside Daichi in the garden, Daichi watering a few plants while Ushijima was in a perfects meeting. "You know. Because they're cool."

Daichi wasn't sure why Iwaizumi was following him. At first, he thought it was out of pity. Sugawara didn't come back, he probably felt bad that Daichi was by himself while Iwaizumi and Oikawa were flaunting their relationship for the world. Iwaizumi wasn't inconsiderate either, so maybe as a fellow classmate he was able to sympathize and was trying to make him feel better.

There were limits though. Iwaizumi didn't have to follow him _everywhere_.

"This rose is pretty."  
"That's a tulip," Daichi said, watching as Iwaizumi blushed in embarrassment, chuckling nervously. "Oh. Is that so?" Daichi hummed, nodding as he watered the dandelions in front of him, checking up on them and making sure they were growing properly. Ushijima said something about talking to them too, which felt silly to Daichi but he was actually looking forward to it today. He had a lot to talk about.

"Did you read the letter yet?" Iwaizumi asked, clicking something in Daichi's brain. Iwaizumi has probably been waiting to ask that specific question the whole time, and might even have been waiting for Daichi to bring it up. 

"I did," Daichi said with a nod, stopping the water coming out from the can so now the only thing they could hear was the wind from outside the greenhouse. "Did you have anything you wanted to add?"  
"Well, what did Sugawara say in the letter?" Iwaizumi asked, looking at Daichi, but then quickly looked away when Daichi looked back. "He was just telling me how things were in the other school," Daichi told him with a shrug, trying to undermine how much he was freaking the fuck out about the whole situation. "How things aren't really changing and he's trying his hardest to keep things under control." Iwaizumi nodded, like he was agreeing, and so badly did Daichi want to shake him and tell him more. To his surprise, he was able to compose himself.

"Sugawara was strong during the whole thing. He is strong, actually. He's a strong person," Iwaizumi agreed softly, squatting down and making himself eye level to one of the bluebells and touching the petals softly. "I was shocked myself at just how calm he was during the whole thing. He took really good care of everyone."

A surge of pride went through Daichi even though he knew he shouldn't be feeling that way right now. Sugawara was a strong individual, very independent and skilled in many things. Most of the time he was just underestimated because of bloodline, and maybe overshadowed by Daichi's big personality. But Daichi loved it when Sugawara's efforts and amazing character was complimented. Because he deserved it.

"Things are crazy there," Iwaizumi admitted with a soft exhale, like he didn't want to say it out loud. "I can't imagine what it's like being an actual muggle born. The stories I've heard from them, how they're treated. I can't believe it."

Daichi couldn't help but agree. It took him this long to figure it out, but apparently from stores to restaurants to work to school, muggle borns haven't been treated the most fair. It wasn't like before, obviously. There was a time muggle borns weren't even allowed to attend Hogwarts, which was an absurd idea for Daichi to even think about. How could a wizard be denied wizarding education regardless where they're from?  
But then he's heard stories of wand shopping, textbook buying and applying for jobs that Daichi wish he could forget about easily, and at the same time was grateful he did hear it. Now he could do something.

"I think we should do something," Iwaizumi said out loud, finally getting to the point Daichi so desperately wanted him to get to. "I think we need to help them. At first, I wanted to do something big. Something that would change the world, but I realized that it's not that easy." Iwaizumi let out a pathetic laugh, scratching the back of his neck helplessly. "Then I realized, even if it's a small step, a step forward is a step forward. It doesn't have to be world-changing or mind blowing. Just knowing I did something, even if it was only trying, it's better than doing nothing."

Daichi's eyes widened briefly, gulping at Iwaizumi's statement and realizing himself that he had a point. Daichi didn't have to change the world or save a life in order to help. Even just a small step would be enough.  
Two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward.

"What did you have in mind?"

Daichi wasn't Oikawa's friend or anything. They didn't hate each other, especially not lately with their friendly games of Quidditch and Oikawa and Nishinoya's weird friendship that Daichi still couldn't get over (considering not even a few months ago they were at each other's necks trying to kill each other). Oikawa was Iwaizumi's boyfriend though, so he was here by association.

Even if all he did was talk nonsense.

"Iwa-chan, look! I made a crane," Oikawa giggled, showing Iwaizumi the small little paper bird in the palm of his hand, Iwaizumi nodding even though he didn't look at it, instead his eyes focused on the papers in front of him.

"Very nice."  
"You didn't even look!" Oikawa whined in protest, crumpling the paper crane up and throwing it in the nearest garbage bin. Daichi wasn't exactly sure what they were doing, all he knew was that he followed Iwaizumi here and was expecting some sort of secret meeting among the two of them to figure out how they were going to help with the who muggle situation.  
At the moment, Daichi had no idea what they were planning.

"So when I was there I figured out this much," Iwaizumi said, turning the paper he was reading and showing Daichi a photo of the Minister of Magic, headmaster Akaashi and a few other people on the Ministry of Magic and Council, including an 'Oikawa' second name woman who looked strangely like Oikawa. Daichi had to look between her and Oikawa several times to see if he was seeing correctly.

"Yes, there's two of us," Oikawa snapped, making Daichi flinch. "She's the president. Impressive, right?" Daichi's jaw dropped when Oikawa revealed his status, news to Daichi but apparently was a trend with the Slytherins. All of them came from some sort of higher class, pure blooded rich family line and it seemed Oikawa wasn't an exception. Daichi couldn't help but wonder...

When he looked down at the paper, the name 'Iwaizumi' surely showed up, only that the Iwaizumi family was apart of the Ministry, not the Council. What looked to be Iwaizumi's parents, were chairmans.

"You two make me sick," Daichi ended up blurting out lowed, noticing the pictures of each member that Iwaizumi took to make a little chart of the Ministry and Council also happened to be ordered from their status in the company. No surprise, Oikawa's and Iwaizumi's family names were near the top.

"I thought your name would be here, Sawamura-kun," Oikawa said in genuine surprise, Daichi didn't know if he should be offended by it. "What do your parents do for a living?" Daichi's face went a little pink, feeling like he was an odd one out in the high class lives of Iwaizumi and Oikawa. He had to remember that Sugawara probably felt 10 times worse every time the Slytherins in his own house would talk about their families in the wizarding world and the jobs they had while Sugawara couldn't even relate to any of them.

"My dad is co-editor-in-chief. He actually works for Akaashi-kun's mom," Daichi admitted, both Iwaizumi and Oikawa nodding and commenting how that was still an impressive job. God, Daichi felt horribly privileged right now, complaining about status when he was doing perfectly fine in the wizarding world. This meeting was supposed to be helping the actually oppressed. 

"And your mom?"  
"She's a stay at home for now, but she actually works at a law firm. Nothing for the Ministry specifically, she has her own business." Since Daichi's siblings were still young, his mom was home schooling them and preparing them for their upcoming years at Hogwarts (mentally of course, they weren't allowed to do magic yet). "That's perfect, actually!" Iwaizumi said with a clap. "She can help us too then!"

Diachi was about to ask what Iwaizumi meant by that but out of nowhere a fist punched down on the desk they were sitting out, the whole library echoing as Daichi looked up and saw a grinning Nishinoya.  
A grinning Nishinoya holding...Kageyama's hand. And a stiff Tsukishima behind them.

"Present!" Nishinoya laughed loudly, grabbing two chairs and making both Kageyama and Tsukishima sit down. "One journaling lawyer, in your care," Nishinoya laughed, ruffling Kageyama and Tsukishima's hair - making them both scowl - while Nishinoya grabbed a chair of his own and sat beside Oikawa, smiling widely at everyone. "Don't let me interrupt you. Carry on."

Iwaizumi blinked at them while Oikawa laughed, scooting his seat over to give Nishinoya some room. "Yes, so," Iwaizumi cleared his throat, pointing out and continuing on with his explanation.

"We were talking about the status in the Ministry and Council. And who to target first-""Your sister is the president?" Kageyama exclaimed loudly, pointing at Oikawa's sister on the page, his jaw dropping. Oikawa smirked with a nod, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly as if it weren't a big deal to be the president of a whole Council of magic. Daichi did notice Oikawa's sudden prominent pride in his sister's job that he didn't show a few minutes ago.

"Right, Tobio-chan. Better keep up if you want to even have the right to talk to her." Kageyama growled at him, stomping his foot threateningly at him, but Tsukishima put a hand on his chest, stopping him from jumping on the table. 

"Calm down, calm down," Tsukishima said with a small smirk himself, his glasses glinting as he looked over at Oikawa. "Not everyone has their own skill to claim, Kageyama-kun. Some people need to hide behind the success of others just to make it."

This made Oikawa frown, that frown soon turning into a pursing of the lips as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Look who's talking, Mr. Daddy-Come-Get-Me-"  
"Alright!" Daichi took it upon himself to stop the fighting before it could escalate, seeing how Tsukishima twitched and Iwaizumi grabbed the table. Daichi didn't mind taking the reins for a bit.

"Look," Daichi sighed, getting everyone's attention. "We're here to serve a bigger purpose. Not start on your petty fights and getting into arguments you'll forget about tomorrow. There's a bigger battle out there and you guys are acting like children." He could see Kageyama deflating at the scolding - like he always did - and Tsukishima not being able to look up. Nishinoya watched in amusement, especially when Oikawa rolled his eyes, earning a pinch from Iwaizumi.

"Now," Daichi cleared his throat, nodding his head at Iwaizumi. "Let's go back to the actual problem at hand."

About 30 minutes passed before another huge argument bursted out, this time between Nishinoya and Tsukishima. If you could call it an 'argument'.

"You really show no respect," Nishinoya hissed as he went over to Tsukishima and started pressing a finger down in the middle of his head and applying pressure, Tsukishima groaning and trying to push him away but Daichi could see that Tsukishima was trying not to physically hurt him. Which was sweet in it's own way, he supposed. Didn't stop Tsukishima from having a smart mouth.

"Because your daddy's got dough you think you can step all over me?" Nishinoya huffed, sitting back down in his seat when Oikawa told him that was enough. "Well you know what? My mom is railing in coins, so think again!""Where did he learn that?" Iwaizumi whispered to Oikawa, referring to Nishinoya's choice of words. "I think the television." Iwaizumi widened his eyes and looked over to Daichi, mouthing 'what's a 'television'?

"Okay guys, let's focus again," Daichi hit the table, trying to get everyone's attention again. "We were doing so well."

And they were doing well, actually. They discussed their statuses of their families, talking about what they could offer if they talked to their families. Kageyama's sister was a journalist who wrote reports - coincidentally alongside Tsukishima's older brother. What a small world! - about current events and new discoveries. Muggles not being as bad as the Ministry publishes them to be is a bit of a discovery, along with the fact that actual minors are suffering because of it.  
Then there was Nishinoya's mom who was a deputy headmistress and actually was experiencing something similar to what headmaster Akaashi was. Another perspective was key as well - why did headmaster Akaashi agree to this in the first place? Obviously he had no idea about the way they were being treated. It was a good idea to get more than their own biased, one-sided opinions.  
Oikawa and Iwaizumi's families were no question necessary in terms of getting involved. Their status in the wizarding world was crucial and with the platform they were on, they were the best bet in actually spreading awareness. (Not to diss Nishinoya's homemade campaign in front of the great hall, but a president of the Council of Magic had a much better chance getting the word out).

Then there was Daichi. Who for some reason, felt annoyed that he couldn't offer much except his mom's law firm, which wasn't even open right now because she was taking care of kids.  
He knew this wasn't the point of the whole ordeal, but he couldn't help but feel...useless.

"What're you guys doing?"

The sudden quiet voice, and equally quiet footsteps, took Daichi and the rest of the group by surprise, looking up and seeing Akaashi and Kenma together, looking like they were there to actual use the library. Once they saw Nishinoya though, along with a funny mix of people, it seemed like they changed course.

"Keiji-kun!" Nishinoya greeted loudly, standing up and motioning for them to sit. "Join us! We could use some Ravenclaw input." Akaashi refused the seat, telling Nishinoya that he could get their own chairs, but Kenma sat down without hesitation. Nishinoya went to get a two extra chairs for the two of them, and now their little group just got two bodies bigger.

"We're trying to discuss on how to get the muggle borns out of that shitty school," Nishinoya recapped, showing them the paper of messy notes and their connections. "And how to bring awareness to everyone in the world!"  
"We're doing what we can," Oikawa continued on, fiddling with a quill in his hand and trying to act cold about the whole thing even though Daichi just witnessed Oikawa doing a lot of the work so he wasn't fooling anyone. "It seems like a bunch of kids aren't enough though."

Akaashi and Kenma took a look at the paper, nodding their heads slowly, then looked up at them. "Why didn't you call us then? I'm the headmaster's son." Akaashi said blankly, making all of them a bit flustered, but Nishinoya the most since he was actually close to them. "My mom is the head of the Muggle Relations department. Muggle Studies and whatnot," Kenma sighed, leaning back as he took his Gameboy back. "She would love this."

Everyone looked over at Kenma, their eyes widening when he admitted that his mom was apart of the muggle business and their association with the wizarding world. That means she was in charge of all the interracial weddings, all the cross-overs, everything.

How was she reacting with this whole situation then? What was she doing on her end? Daichi wanted to ask all of that but then they were interrupted by yet another person.

"Good, you are all in a group," Ushijima said, looking down on all of them, blinking a few times, Daichi realized he was counting them. "You are all here. That's perfect," Ushijima said again before pointing to the doors. "There is an assembly happening right now. Headmaster Akaashi just announced it and is making all the prefects round the students. Great Hall, now."

Oikawa scoffed, looking up at Ushijima with an eye roll. "Assembly about what?""I didn't ask," Ushijima answered, "I am just doing my job." Obviously there was tension around between the two of them, at least on Oikawa's side, the way he looked at Ushijima in disgust.

"Seems suspicious. You sure you're not taking us to the Great Hall to sacrifice us?""Oikawa!" Iwaizumi scolded, pinching Oikawa on the thigh which caused him to whine in protest. "What? I"m just saying."

Akaashi got up, sighing softly and looking at the time. "It would seem that my father is causing a bit of a stir in the wizarding community, isn't he?" Akaashi attempted to make a joke but no one was laughing. "If he's holding an emergency assembly then it's an emergency. We should go now. He won't start until everyone is there," Akaashi said the last part in a soft groan, like he was embarrassed that his father was so including.

"Why're you sweating?" Tsukishima asked abruptly, glaring down at Kageyama. "You look like you just came out of a dragon's mouth.""Why do you know what that looks like?" Kageyama asked in disgust, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I'm just thinking about the last assembly we had that was sudden. And how we were all called up," Kageyama mumbled, looking at the seven of them and blinking slowly.

Daichi realized it too when he really took in who was in the library and how they were related to each other. Maybe it wasn't such an odd mix of people after all. Just a coincidence.

"Do you know what this assembly's about?" Daichi pulled Ushijima's arms, mumbling in his ear. "You can tell me."

Ushijima looked down at Daichi, furrowing his eyebrows then shaking his head. "I already said," Ushijima replied, rather loudly than Daichi's liking. "I don't know what it's about."

Daichi nodded, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay," Daichi said, feeling like he struck a nerve in Ushijima. Before he would've thought that Ushijima was a good liar and could keep a straight face, but he's realized that was not the case and it was physically impossible for Ushijima to lie.  
Helpful, but Daichi did want to know a little bit more about this assembly.

The eight of them started walking out of library, heading to the Great Hall as a group, Ushijima leading them even though he didn't need to. Daichi ended up walking beside him out of habit, all of them taking deeper breaths as they got closer and closer, hearing the soft mumbles and talks of the other students that were already there. Of course, they were the last ones to arrive.

"If we get called up again, I'm blaming Tsukishima."  
"What the fuck?" Tsukishima hissed at Oikawa after his declaration, looking back at him, Kageyama snickering. "I dunno," Oikawa shrugged innocently. "You just look the most guilty."

_Dai-chan,_

_How are you doing? Are you eating properly? You're sleeping regularly, right? I don't want you to strain yourself since I know you're always trying your best. Eat well and take care of yourself too before you take care of anyone else. You won't be useful to anyone if you're not taking care of yourself while you try to help others. So be a good kid and watch over yourself._

_I just read the letter from your headmaster. After with what happened last year, I think it's a little funny! Good thing your siblings are gullible because it would be bad if they think they can do things their older brother is doing. It would be bad if they blew up the house, haha! What a mess that would make and I would have to clean it all up - your dad would never!_

_I guess I should have been writing to you more instead of assuming you would write to me whenever you have a problem. I suppose that's apart of growing up! You rely on me a little less now, which is good, but it would have been nice if you sent a little letter yourself about what happened instead of me finding out through the headmaster. Next time! I'm starting to suspect that maybe something will happen next year..._

_Since I'm writing I'll tell you how things are at home. Your siblings miss you a lot, of course. They wanted to write to you as well, but I got them to draw pictures instead. Your sister is very, very skilled at writing already - opposite of you! Your brother is showing a lot of signs of 'Daichi character' though. I think because he saw a lot of you in the papers during Quidditch matches and the house cup wins. I can't have two strong boys in the house! Your sister and I will be outnumbered quite soon if that's the case!  
The garden is growing beautifully. I grew roses like you asked me to but I have to ask - why white? They're lovely, don't get me wrong, but I'm so scared of staining or breaking them even though they grow in soil. I took some in though and they look lovely by the window. When they reflect in the sun they look a touch silver! Just breathtaking, I could look at them all day._

_Dai-chan, when you graduate, I think I'll have to go back to work. Even though I love being a stay at home mom, I think I miss the law firm. And with what has been happening with the schools these year, I think I need to get more involved. Isn't Koushi-kun a muggle born? It must be awful. I can't believe you didn't write to me sooner. But I guess you were quite occupied with everything happening. I hope Koushi-kun is okay though._

_Are you doing anything about it, Dai-chan? I think this is right up your field and you can do big things right about now! Serving for justice, making a difference - that sounds like my Daichi! Is the Muggle Studies class still happening? I think you'll learn a lot about the history there. I wish I can send you more books to refer to, but I haven't went out to buy any in time and I finally found time to write this letter. Your siblings are really tiring me out!_

_Hopefully things will look up though. Dai-chan. Stay optimistic! The world can't be perfect, we need to accept that. If the world were perfect, then we wouldn't exist! But it can be different. Knowing you, you'll make the difference. You always strived for bigger steps, a faster pace. There's not anything you can't do, Dai-chan. Make sure to lead everyone in the fight and you'll rise victorious. Your siblings and I are cheering you on, always!_

_Also, I think it's a good time to mention that your father is going on a business trip this weekend, so let's try and write to him before he leaves. And make it a long letter! He's a bit upset with you for what you did this year, especially after your little fit last year. I'll calm him down though, it shouldn't be too hard._

_That's all for now, Dai-chan. Get a good night's rest and work hard!_

_Lots of love,_

_Ma_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daichi is so hard for me to write >.<. Hope you guys are still enjoying the series though, I know this book is a long one! The next one though, will be 45 chapters again and a whole lot lighter (⌒▽⌒)ゞ. I wanted to give you guys a few more content creators I would like to recommend, they are all Instagram Artists!! :
> 
> |nekyoma - Adorable! Their Haikyuu art is just amazing.
> 
> |mdtl_a - Wholesome fanart (so far haha) and they are a multifandom account, so there are other things other than Haikyuu! (I should probably mention that more for different accounts).
> 
> |kagsisgay - Amazing name, I know. Kagehina heaven with comics and commissions (I haven't tried getting a commission from them yet, but I do love their work!).
> 
> That's all for now, hope everyone is doing well and staying safe out there. For most of us school is starting soon or has started which is crazy - let's get through this together! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧


	42. Ushijima

Date : November 13 1997

Time : 6:03 PM

Current Location : Great Hall (in the back with the other prefects)

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"I apologize for calling all of you here on such short notice," headmaster Akaashi started off the assembly when all the students were marked present, the prefects closing the doors and having everyone settle down. Ushijima of course was at the Ravenclaw table, making sure his house was on their best behaviour. He was always prided with having the quietest table.

"But I figured it was important enough to have a spur of the moment type of gathering. I am sure everyone is tremendously curious as to what is happening in current events and with Hogwarts ourselves. So please, be as attentive as possible and hold all questions till the end."

There was a solemn, pregnant pause amongst the crowd, obviously all the students taking this assembly to heart when headmaster Akaashi mentioned the other school. Even Ushijima was having a hard time processing what was happening, not expecting the pure bloods to be sent back and especially not thinking he would be foolish enough to undergo a Forgetfulness Potion.  
Life happens though.

"I want to start off by saying," headmaster Akaashi let out a shaky breath, stepping to the side of the podium and taking a big bow, going on his knees and pressing his forehead on the floor. All the students gasped, the professors widened their eyes and everyone that knew Akaashi glanced over at him, even Ushijima. A formal bow like that - this assembly was much more serious than he thought.

When headmaster Akaashi stood back up his whole face was red, probably trying his best not to look flustered but even someone like Ushijima could see the effort. "I need to apologize. My ignorance towards the situation was unacceptable, and as someone in position of authority, I need to acknowledge this mistake. I wanted to start this assembly saying this, and I hope the harsh feelings you hard towards me and the transfer of the muggle born students will subdue a bit. I do not ask for quick forgiveness, nor do I ask for understanding, but I do hope that this will not effect your time here at Hogwarts to reflect negatively and that we can take this experience to grow from it. Me included."

Ushijima could argue that he didn't necessarily agree with headmaster Akaashi in the fact that this was 'his fault'. Being under the Ministry was like being under a very strict parent - if you wanted to stay alive then just do what they say. And in this case, if headmaster Akaashi tried to 'sneak out' (Ushijima's perfect use of an analogy) then it wouldn't end so easily.

"Moving on," headmaster Akaashi cleared his throat, going back to his podium and gripping the side of the podium. "I would like to bring up the matter at hand which is the transfer of muggle students. Done in hopes to dilute the magical presence at Hogwarts until we warded off muggle hunters from our presence, the Council of Magic has reported that all along, the muggle hunting reports actually have never sky rocketed to the outrageous numbers the Ministry has fed us. Rather, they have made that the illusion and misguided the Board and Council into believing otherwise." Headmaster Akaashi explained this and Ushijima was half expecting chatter to happen, but everyone surprisingly stayed dead silent.

"It has been investigated thoroughly that the discrimination of muggle born wizards and witches does exist. And though it was obvious in the school systems this year, the Ministry and other organizations and institutions have yet to prove hardcore discrimination, and therefore I am sad to say that," headmaster Akaashi sighed as he looked up at everyone, a tired and disappointed expression on his face.

"That the separation will continue until further notice."

This caused quite a commotion in the Great Hall, the prefects trying to calm the students down but headmaster Akaashi waved his hand at them, indicating he would allow a few minutes of noise.  
This allowed Ushijima to have a few minutes of thinking.

The separation would continue? Meaning he wasn't going to be there for Tendou's full moons a little while longer? How long was it going to continue? What would happen to the muggle borns now that there was more awareness?   
What if Tendou got caught?

"Thank you," headmaster Akaashi bellowed out, getting everyone to silence themselves and pay attention once more. Ushijima admired that about headmaster Akaashi. Even though he was stoic and professional he managed to have a warmth to him that made him so approachable and likeable. Perhaps Ushijima could learn from that as well considering his...lack of warmth.

"I know this isn't ideal, nor was the separation in the first place. But I would like to point out how far we've gotten," headmaster Akaashi said, his tone uplifting and optimistic. "Only a little over a decade ago were muggle borns not allowed to attend Hogwarts. And before that, muggle borns weren't even allowed to buy a wand unless accompanied by a wizard guardian. Even if it was a little change, we've made change. To look at all the bad points would be an insult to our improvements and those who have stepped forward to make those improvements."

Everyone in the Great Hall murmured softly, a few nods here and there and whispers but not even a few seconds after was it silent again. "We have a long way to go in the world. There will always be something wrong, I can tell you that much of my time being an adult. Perfection isn't something to strive for, especially when mediocre isn't even in your reach. So, as your headmaster and a parent, I ask this of all of you," headmaster Akaashi paused, taking a gulp and a breath.

"Educate yourselves. Allow yourselves to know what's going on even if it makes you uncomfortable. Be aware. Because the second you are ignorant you have already lost the battle. Press forward. Especially when you have gone back all the way. And finally, don't discredit yourselves. I know all of you haven't been given the chance to experience the real world as adults, and I am almost certain none of you are being treated like adults yet. I sure hope not, because being a kid is a lot more fun," there was a few chuckles in the crowd, even from headmaster Akaashi. "But I tell you this with as much sincerity as you would like to believe I have. That age is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Your skills, your minds and your hearts are what matter the most. What you offer is what matters the most, even if it's your pride and efforts. There is never a shortage of that in this world. The point I am trying to make is, the uneducated, ignorant and unaware tried to tear a world apart that was already torn enough. It is the informed, the knowledgable and the compassionate that now need to make a stand. And I'm looking at a crowd of them."

Headmaster Akaashi paused again, looking at all the students before taking a deep breath. "The Board is doing what they can, the Councils and I are doing what we can, and we don't expect you all to jump in and offer your life or anything, but just a mere thought here and there is more than enough. Even a flame is made from the tiniest spark." Headmaster Akaashi stepped away from the podium, taking a bow as a sign of his speech being finished and now, questions and commentaries were opened.

However, instead of chatter and talk, not a word was spoken. They were all looking at headmaster Akaashi, all pensive, earnest, even the softest heartbeat was in synced with the rest.   
As a family, as a team.

Akaashi was the first one to hold his wand up in salute. The rest of the Ravenclaw table joined in, followed by the Gryffindors, then the Hufflepuffs and then finally the Slytherins and to everyone's surprise they weren't as slow as usual.

Headmaster Akaashi's shocked face was enough to say that he wasn't expecting a rather positive response. He looked grateful though, grinning at everyone and bowing once again. The speech was probably stressing him out a lot, even someone like Ushijima could see that much.

With that, the assembly finished, not a word spoken as the Great Hall cleared out.

"Ushijima-san!" At this point Ushijima recognized Goshiki's voice. He never found it troublesome that the junior followed him around constantly or asked a lot of questions. In fact, Ushijima found it rather encouraging. When he graduated there would be someone diligent leading the school.

"You were so cool, rounding up all the students like that! Definitely something I need to learn how to do." He could do without all the constant praising though. 

Giving him a thumbs up, Goshiki ended up following Ushijima all the way to the Ravenclaw Tower, in silence like usual except for the occasional humming from Goshiki. Ushijima didn't mind.

"Kissing up gets you nowhere," Sakusa grunted inaudibly behind his turtleneck as he passed by the two of them, side eyeing Goshiki before walking in front of them and up the Ravenclaw staircase. "Just thought you should know."

Goshiki kissed his teeth, glaring at the back of Sakusa's head before waving to Ushijima, bowing at him. "Have a good night, Ushijima-san! I'll be bright and early tomorrow for morning patrol!" Ushijima didn't have time to tell Goshiki that Ushijima didn't have a morning shift tomorrow, watching Goshiki running down towards the Slytherin hall where Shirabu was waiting for him.

Instead, Ushijima made his way up to the Ravenclaw Tower, walking into the common room after solving the riddle. He saw Sakusa right away, washing down the couch with a charm before sitting down. Ushijima made his way up to him, standing in front of Sakusa, narrowing his eyes down at him.

"What was that for?" Ushijima asked bluntly, the confused look on Sakusa's face making him need to specify. "'Kissing up gets you nowhere'. Why would you say something like that?"

Sakusa looked at Ushijima blankly, blinking a few times before shaking his head and getting up with a sigh. "It meant nothing. Goshiki decided to follow you around like a lost puppy and I was giving him advice. Nothing that has to do with you." Ushijima's eyebrows knitted down when he Sakusa trying to run away from the situation. He quickly caught Sakusa's arm, stopping him.

"What kind of advice is that? Tsutomu-kun is doing nothing of the sort. He is trying to be an adequate prefect to properly lead the school for when I leave." Sakusa scowled. yanking his arm away from Ushijima and glaring at him.

"Don't touch me!" Sakusa exclaimed angrily, rubbing the spot Ushijima touched vigorously. "Disgusting. Now I have to burn it," Sakusa sighed, glaring up at Ushijima before stepping away. "Goshiki is just kissing up to you to get good rep. Don't misunderstand, he's just trying to use you. All Slytherins are like that."

This statement, for understandable reasons, upset Ushijima way more than Sakusa calling his touch 'disgusting'. Not all Slytherins were like that. Tendou certainly wasn't. 

"Even if that was the case, and I can assure it is not," Ushijima said lowly, his voice much more serious if it were possible. By the way Sakusa's eyes widened, even he could tell that the atmosphere changed. "Why would you care?"

Sakusa's eyes flickered, gulping as he saw Ushijima's expression go form stoic and serious to annoyed and conflicted. He struck a nerve, and even someone as antisocial as Sakusa could figure that out. "What-What are you saying? I don't care!""Then stop acting like it and start acting like your age. Your childish behaviour is starting to irritate me, and trust me, I am very hard to get irritated." Ushijima stepped forward, towering over Sakusa and looking him dead in the eyes, the turtleneck didn't protect Sakusa from the burning stare Ushijima had on him now.

"Do not talk ill of Slytherins," Ushijima stated softly, not breaking eye contact with Sakusa for a second. "You of all people should not be one to judge." 

Ushijima stepped back, letting Sakusa stand straight again before nodding off and making his way to the dorm. Ushijima didn't think of himself as an activist, but when someone insulted Tendou, whether indirectly or to his face, no way was Ushijima going to sit around and watch.

After their little, quiet feud, Ushijima didn't bring it up and neither did Sakusa. So Quidditch practice was rather normal the next morning.

"Nice receive," Ushijima clapped softly as he watched Akaashi catch the quaffle, stopping it from entering the goal post. "Kozume, more alert. You are the Seeker after all." Kenma nodded, but he didn't look as 'alert' as Ushijima would have liked.

"Ushijima, can you make sure my form is correct?" Osamu asked, calling over Ushijima. As the captain, he did so quickly, giving Osamu pointer tips and telling him how he could chase better and catch the quaffle quicker. Him and Akaashi managed to work together, Osamu learning a new technique by throwing the quaffle in the air and hitting it with the back of his broom in the goal posts instead of just throwing it in. It allowed for harder passes and could intimidate the Keeper.

"My broom needs cleaning," Kita mumbled, looking down at the end of his broom and scruffing it a bit. "I need to buy wax at Hogsmeade this weekend.""I have some you can borrow," Yaku chimed in, flying next to the other 6th years. "I'll give it to you after practice."

Yaku had a tough time adjusting, Ushijima noticed. They had to take off one of the fill in players he let on the team so Yaku could play again, but Yaku suggested he took a break since he still was having some recovery time from the school. He still joined in practices though so he could keep his skills up.

"Thanks," Kita said, the three of them looking out at the team, the rest of the members under their grade. It wasn't a bad thing, obviously. There was range. Everyone was hard working, which was all Ushijima looked for when it came to playing.  
Hard working, skilled, technique oriented, cooperative and preferably had a fitting body as well. Those were the things Ushijima looked for when it came to playing.

"Where're your lackeys?" Kita asked, making Ushijima raise an eyebrow at him, not understanding right away. "You know, those Slytherin kids? Always come to your practices? Where are they? Don't see them right now," Kita said, looking down at the ground from his broom then shrugging. "Got bored of you all of a sudden? Don't worry, that happens when kids have idols. They move on so quick."

Why was everyone giving Ushijima such a hard time about Goshiki and Shirabu? Was it such a crime that he wanted to support and mentor people in the lower grades? "I don't understand why people keep commenting on them to me," Ushijima said honestly. At first it wasn't too much of a problem considering people questioned a lot of Ushijima's decisions, understandably so too. But he thought that him conversing with Slytherins wouldn't be that shocking anymore because of how clear Tendou made it that they were a couple. Was it truly that shocking?

"Because, Sakusa-kun has been trying to get your attention this whole time. All of a sudden these Slytherin brats come and swoop you off your feet? A little unfair, no?"

Hearing this, Ushijima's eyes widened greatly, turning to Kita in shock. "What?" This was news to Ushijima, obviously, his face said it all. Not once did Ushijima ever get the feeling that Sakusa wanted his mentorship. He didn't even think Sakusa liked him that much! So to hear that, Ushijima was convinced it was also a joke.

"I think there's a misunderstanding," Ushijima said, shaking his head. "Sakusa has my attention fully. There was not a day that thought he was-""Kenma!"

Ushijima's head whipped to the side, hearing Akaashi yell out and out of reflex, he started flying fast. Kenma, for whatever reason, fell off his broom. His body was falling mid air off of it, Akaashi was stunned where he was in the air and no one was going after him - or maybe they were. Ushijima couldn't see because he was racing down, only a few feet off the ground when he caught Kenma with one arm, wrapping around Kenma's waist. With a grunt, Ushijima flew down, landing on his feet and carrying Kenma bridal style, trying to see if he was okay.  
Akaashi flew down only a few seconds later, followed by the rest of the Ravenclaw team.

"I knew this would happen eventually," Akaashi sighed, tsking as he took a look at Kenma. "He fell asleep."

Ushijima has never heard of this happening to someone, falling asleep on a broom in the middle of the sky. But Kenma was always a brilliant person.

"I'll take him to the hospital wing," Ushijima said, looking down at Kenma's sleeping face before turning around. Akaashi didn't seem to protest, and as the captain of the team it was Ushijima's responsibility to make sure everyone on the team was well. If something was wrong with Kenma, Ushijima should be able to tend to him as much as he can.

"Continue on with practice. Kita is in charge."

The hospital wing was a place Ushijima was familiar with, notably because of Tendou and his full moon complications. The nurse knew Ushijima by name and always gave him extra food because of how often Ushijima was taking people to the hospital. Tendou has even made a comment that they would do 'it' there one day with how often they were there.

"Ushijima...san?"

Ushijima looked up from the book he was reading, only 30 minutes after arriving, seeing Kenma blinking awake. "Where...am I?""Hospital wing," Ushijima answered shortly, getting Kenma a glass of milk and handing it to him to sip. "Drink this and go to sleep." Kenma looked at Ushijima with a frown, his hand twitching like he attempted to reach for it but his body was too weak. After a minute of staring at each other, Ushijima went beside Kenma's hospital bed and held the brim of the cup to Kenma's mouth. "Drink." Kenma obeyed quietly, taking small sips from the cup until a quarter of it was done, then Ushijima pulled away, putting the cup down.

"Thanks," Kenma said, Ushijima wiping the milk on Kenma's upper lip. "You can sleep again," Ushijima said, sitting down in the same spot beside Kenma's bed. "You need to rest. Apparently you haven't had a proper sleep in over a week. That is not healthy for a growing boy like you." Kenma let out a soft chuckle, turning his head to look at Ushijima.

"What's the book you're reading?" Kenma asked, nodding his head over. "Jane Austen," answered Ushijima without looking up. "Wow. Never pegged you for a Jane Austen type of guy," Kenma snickered quietly, but Ushijima didn't even flinch.

"Why is that?"

People had misconceptions about Ushijima all the time, and after years of it he has learned that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He could use it as an opportunity to make friends and clear up those misunderstandings.  
Except, not many people wanted to be Ushijima's friend.

"Because, you know. The way you act and whatnot," Kenma yawned, closing his eyes and finding himself snuggling against the hospital pillows. "Not the romantic type. Cold." Ushijima didn't like those misunderstandings. It made it seem like he was a bad boyfriend and then it got him worried if Tendou thought that about him too. He hoped not because then Tendou would be really good at hiding it.

"I know you're not like that though," Kenma yawned again, shaking his head. "I know you're all fluffy and warm inside."

Ushijima's eyes widened when Kenma's tired talk started getting honest and sincere. Was this the first time Ushijima was having a talk with Kenma? And it just had to be when Kenma was half asleep.

"Sorry?" Ushijima couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. "Is that what you think of me?""Oh no, I know you're like that. You're so easy to read," Kenma admitted, almost cockily and it was messing with Ushijima's mind. Kenma wasn't someone that Ushijima thought could read people easily, and though it was a bit hypocritical on Ushijima's part to make assumptions, he couldn't help it.

"See. You're worried now. And confused. How does someone like Kenma know what I'm thinking, right?" Kenma chuckled tiredly, cracking an eye open ever so slightly before closing them properly again. "Because Ushijima-san took me to the hospital wing without hesitation. That's how I know you're a soft person that is genuine about others. We're not friends yet you did this."

Ushijima would argue that he did it for the team and didn't want to cause problems for others. However, if he thought about it then perhaps he would do it for anyone regardless if they were on his Quidditch team or not.

"I used to wonder why you dated Tendou-san. Not that I care," Kenma kept going, mumbling it softly, Ushijima wasn't sure if he was sleep talking. "How could a Ravenclaw go out with someone like that? It was crazy." Ushijima was about to defend Tendou and explain why he was a good partner and didn't deserve the judgement he got. He was even getting more friends ever since last year too!

"Don't get your panties in a whirl, I'm not done," Kenma snapped, as if he could sense Ushijima's defensive side. "I used to think that it was crazy you would date someone like Tendou-san. So loud. So in your face. So nosy. Kind of creepy." Ushijima was getting upset again and was about to actually cut Kenma off right then and there.  
At the last second, Kenma laughed. 

"But then I met my Tendou-san. And I understood why."

Ushijima blinked slowly, watching as Kenma's face relaxed and his breath evening out. This was all tired talk, Kenma might not even remember when he woke up all those things he said. Kenma and him weren't friends by any means, nor was Ushijima planning on becoming his friend before now. However, after this he felt like he knew Kenma a little more, as a person and as a potential friend.

If Kenma found his Tendou, then perhaps Ushijima could understand a little more why Kenma had trouble sleeping.

"Oh," Daichi blinked slowly when he saw Ushijima in the garden watering the plants, a bag of soil in his arms. "I thought you had a prefects meeting today.""It got cancelled last minute."

Ushijima has kept the promise he made with Asahi, tending to the garden as much as he could and planting various plants to make it lush and colourful. He watered them daily, made sure he studied on the plants that needed the most sunlight so he could expose them, and of course talked to them constantly. Ushijima was pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

"We can work on them together then!" Daichi said excitedly, putting the bag of soil down, heading to one of the pots and taking the second watering can that belonged to Asahi. "It's more fun when you're not alone!"

They didn't even talk, but Ushijima supposed he could see where Daichi was coming from. The presence of another person while doing a task was rather comforting, and to think he could call on Daichi if he needed help was reassuringly convenient. So maybe having a second person in here would be fun, even if they weren't Asahi. Asahi always was fun to be around...

"Hello, Sora-chan," Ushijima started watering one of the bluebells, leaning down and inspecting it's petals. "You got bluer over night. I am proud of your progress," Ushijima said seriously, not noticing Asahi looking at him funnily. "Your sisters are not even close to your pigmentation. I would assume so since you are in the front where the sun is. I assume that you have not shared the water I give you either. Greediness is not a good trait even if you are the best."

Daichi blinked at Ushijima a few times, the first time he's heard Ushijima talk like this. He didn't stop him though, curious as to what else he had to say to these plants.

"Kokoro-kun," Ushijima greeted one of the red roses, using a spray bottle instead on their petals, then looking out the green house to see where the sunlight was coming from that day. Ushijima adjusted accordingly so that Kokoro had as much sun as possible. "Always there to steal the spotlight. Your other father is still not home yet, unfortunately. I know you like him better.""Other father...?" Daichi trailed, but Ushijima didn't look at him.

"Tendou?"  
"Azumane-kun. Obviously."

Daichi scoffed, but watched as Asahi went on to a few Japanese chrysanthemums. "Kiku-chan. Taiyou-kun," Ushijima greeted softly, squatting down and watering them carefully. "I see that you are wide awake. Perhaps you would enjoy hearing my story then. So Kozume-kun fell off of his broom..."

Ushijima didn't even noticed when Daichi said 'I'm leaving' and left Ushijima to his odd conversation with plants, clearly not needing Daichi to have a good time. Ushijima told Kiku-chan and Taiyou-kun all about what Kenma and him went through just earlier this morning, explaining the situation and what Kenma said, word for word might he add, not missing a beat.

"I wonder who his Tendou is," Ushijima finished off saying, patting their petals gently. "He must be really lucky if he found his Tendou. I know I'm lucky that I found mine."

Ushijima that year also found out that gods don't exist. At least, not the ones he prayed to during the summer festival. Tendou has had no good luck this year while Ushijima's garden was flourishing beautifully. He'd rather have a dead garden with Tendou by his side, honestly. But then Asahi would be sad that his garden was dead. Life was so cruel sometimes.

"I'm thinking about what the headmaster said," Tendou told his chrysanthemums, hugging his knees in his squat and getting comfortable. "About what he said about taking a stand and whatnot. Do you think Tendou is doing something on his end?" Ushijima wondered out loud, waiting for the flowers to respond, then nodded in agreement. "You're right, he probably is. That is the type of person Tendou is. I am glad that I fell in love with him."

Ushijima never felt embarrassed talking about Tendou, not the love he had for him or anything because why should he? He was so happy to have Tendou in his life! "I need to do something as well. I just don't know what," Ushijima admitted with a sigh, shaking his head. "If only I had Tendou to get advice from. Or maybe Sawamura-" Ushijima turned, expecting to see Daichi but he wasn't there. "Oh. He left."

Tendou wouldn't have left if he was there with Ushijima. Neither would Asahi.

"I suppose all I can do is support him for now," Ushijima shrugged, standing up and dusting the soil off his pants. "I have to go to class now, but I'll tuck you in tonight. You need lots and lots of rest if you are to grow big and strong one day."

Defence Against the Dark Arts wasn't Ushijima's favourite class, but he had to admit that it was a helpful and interesting one. He was always fascinated by the wonders of the wizarding world and the dangers that they could potentially face depending on the career path they chose.

"Nonverbal spells. Is exactly what it sounds like," professor Ukai's _substitute_ wrote on the board. That class there was a big closet that was oddly familiar at the front of the class.

"Why is it important to learn nonverbal spells?" All the Ravenclaws in the class raised their hands. "Yes, Kita-san?""If you're in danger and can't talk.""Exactly," the professor pointed at Kita.   
"Like that'll actually happen to us," Kita mumbled to Ushijima, Ushijima raising his eyebrows in response. He didn't like to say never though.

"Nonverbal spells are important in the midst of danger and noise isn't an option. Or maybe you can't make any - scary, right?" The professor chuckled, shaking his head when no one else laughed. "Anyway, we're going to practice nonverbal spells, and why not start with the scariest thing to counter spell, yet the simplest one. We learned this in our 3rd years. We can all do it, I hope."

Ushijima in that moment realized where he saw that black closet from, remembering all the exams that came with it. "Boggarts."

The students all lined up, one by one, making sure to hide as much as possible behind the person in front of them so that the Boggart an take full effect. Ushijima hasn't handled one since his 3rd year exam, so to say he was perfectly expectant of what his Boggart would turn into was a bit over estimative of Ushijima's self-awareness. Basically, he had no memory of what his Boggart was and had no idea what it would be.

"If it's another giant cockroach I'm going to sue the school," Kita grumbled as he lined up in front of Ushijima, wand in hand. "I grew up since the 3rd year, I should be fine." Ushijima didn't respond, simply nodding because he was too busy thinking about what his Boggart was going to be as well. He didn't want it to be anything too revealing. Like erectile dysfunction leading to a dissatisfied Tendou - terrifying, but he preferred the world not to know. 

"Alright, settle down!" The teacher got everyone's attention with a few claps. "Let's start this off nicely! Yuki-san, you are first!" The Hufflepuff girl stepped forward as the professor opened the closet, the Boggart emerging and right away turning into the creepiest clown Ushijima has ever seen, bright red nose and all. 

"Stop!" The professor waved his wand at the Boggart, making it disappear. "First mistake! Ushijima-san?""Noise," Ushijima answered bluntly, watching the Hufflepuff girl flush down on her knees, whining about how terrifying that clown was. "No noise should be made during nonverbal spells, not even an exhale.""Excellent! No noises are to be made during nonverbal spells, even if it isn't a spell. The point of nonverbal spells is to make sure that there are no sounds involved so that the target is unaware, leaving you to an advantage." The professor didn't even give the poor Hufflepuff enough time to process what just happened, instead letting her friends take her shaky body to the side and calm her down.

"Next!"

So the line went on and on, people's Boggarts coming out. Some people were successful, able to just wave their wands and then the Boggart turned into something else. Then there were a few that were half successful, only confusing the Boggart and making them shift weirdly into different shapes and figures, enough to make the professor approve.   
The ones that couldn't handle their biggest fear though were the ones Ushijima found interesting. Like one Hufflepuff boy found mermaids terrifying and was scared of one grabbing him and drowning him. Another's worst fear was heights and now he was magically flying. Even a Ravenclaw wasn't able to tame a huge fire through the classroom, which Ushijima could say just felt like cold icy mist pressing against his skin when it spiked through him.

"Next!"

Kita was before Ushijima, everyone watching intensely as Kita stepped forward and the closet opened. Ushijima wasn't sure if he was surprised or not, but it was another cockroach like in year 3.

"Oh for fucks sake!""Kita-san, failed! Also, language!" Kita groaned, glaring at the cockroach and blasting it down before stomping to the side and muttering about how his worst fear was not a cockroach, but there was no alternative that Ushijima could think of that could scare Kita. Next thing he knew the person behind him was pushing Ushijima to the front, now his turn.

"Ushijima-san, ready?" The professor asked, Ushijima nodding in response, holding his wand up. Then the professor opened the closet.

It took a while for the Boggart to shift, yet Ushijima didn't see what it actually looked like. Everyone was watching as Ushijima's Boggart turned into a desk with one single picture frame on it. Ushijima walked up to the picture frame, looking down to see what the contents of it were.

"His parents are divorced," one Ravenclaw whispered to the other. "How do you know?""Word got out one year somehow. And you know him, he's not the type to care. Explains how he treats his boyfriend though. Not a sign of warmth or love in him!""He has a boyfriend?!"

The photo frame contained a photo of Ushijima by himself. A child, all alone, with no parents or friends, just a child and no one by his side. 

An emptiness filled Ushijima's stomach and his heart turned to water as he thought harder on what this being his Boggart really meant. Was he actually scared of being alone? He couldn't fear his childhood, it already happened so that was impossible. But what else could it mean if Ushijima was scared of being a small child, all by himself like in the photo.  
His chest sunk as he realized how long he's been staring at the photo.

Silently, Ushijima lifted his wand and pointed to the photo, not saying a word as he watched it change. Instead of thinking about something funny - Ushijima wasn't even sure if he knew what qualified as such - he decided to fix the photo instead. This fear wasn't necessarily one that he felt he would ever be worried about on a day to day basis because he wasn't thinking about it all the time. He did, however, feel like he was now more aware of it now. His parents divorced, people misunderstand him and no one thinks he's nice to his boyfriend - everyday struggles of an average teenager.

But that wasn't Ushijima's biggest fear either.

"Well done, Ushijima-san," the professor said softly, coming to Ushijima's side. "You can leave it now and let the next person go."

Ushijima couldn't though. He kept staring at the photo he fixed, blinking slowly and taking in what his Boggart was a sign of. Ushijima wasn't scared of being alone or abandoned or left behind. He's experienced that before and has learned how to handle it.

Ushijima was scared of being misunderstood.

Because when Ushijima saw that photo, he didn't see a sad, lonely boy. He saw Ushijima. He saw himself, for what he was at the time. A boy, not too friendly, not too approachable. A boy who just had his parents split up, but that was okay because they were both happier now and that's what mattered. A boy, who even though didn't have too many friends, enjoyed spending time by himself and making a world for himself where he belonged. Ushijima wasn't a sad, lost soul that had a depressing childhood like everyone thought. So rather than saying he 'fixed' the photo, rather he made it better.

"Sorry," Ushijima cleared his throat, putting the photo down. "I got carried away." The professor gave Ushijima an unsure, tight smile, nodding his head as he tried to take the Boggart away while Ushijima went to the side where the other students who completed the task sat.

On the table, one last final look did Ushijima give, at the improved photo of Ushijima and Tendou as kids.

_Tendou,_

_I asked the headmaster if I could send a letter to you and even though it might reach you late, writing it was the only way I could have peace of mind. When I write you letters I always do something simple, for example, explaining my day. I think that is a good way to update you on what is happening in my life and gives you a chance to be well informed, but this letter I want to write will be different. I hope you do not mind and are not too surprised.  
Also, I would like to say that I want to do everything I can in my power to help. I know that there is not much I can do, however I will try my best to be well informed and helpful to Tendou. Since Tendou is the most important person in my life, I want to be the one to help you. Please excuse my greediness._

_Anyway, the letter I would like to send is an expression of my love to you. I would like to tell you as often as possible, and though I know you cannot write back, I hope I can imagine accurately what your reactions will be. Even if you do not write back, I know Tendou loves me as well._

**_Tho I long for the actual sunlight contact between us I miss you like a home. Shine back honey and think of me. - Allen Ginsberg_ **

_I do not think words can describe my tremendous longing for you this whole time. I thought it was immature to think like this, however I have come to the conclusion that, in your words, do not give two shits. I miss you more than you can understand, more than I thought was possible. I thought I was selfish for thinking this way, but since Tendou has expressed a profound amount of times your affections towards me, perhaps I should allow my selfish ways to continue. I miss you and I want you to come back home._

_**With me it is quite stark: I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal. - Vita Sackville-West** _

_I never thought I could be so infatuated with another human being in my life. I assumed that the presence of another person would always ever be something that I had an indifference to, only turning my head when I see they are beneficial to my life. I imagined that the day someone who was important to me came, if they ever did, I would miss them completely because I do not know what an important person looks like.  
Then you appeared. Suddenly, I felt that my beliefs and assumptions were insulted by your presence in my life, proving me wrong that there was a person who even I could think about all day and all night. I prepared myself to miss you, and miss you I shall, because I never believed that I could miss someone else before._

**_When I saw you I l fell in love,  
and you smiled because you knew. - William Shakespeare _ **

_The first moment I fell in love with you was the same day you found out. I saw your face change, your eyes soften, your hands slowed down and your voice lighten. You chose not to tease me the whole time, you paced yourself, you gave me time.  
And for that, I am grateful.  
Not many people understand me, and I know you know this as well. Yet you, Tendou, were able to understand me even when I could not understand myself. I think before I realized I was in love with you, you knew my feelings wholeheartedly and were patient. The first moment I fell in love with you was the same day you found out, yet I still had not. So because of that, I fell in love with you deeper, and now I cannot come see where I feel from._

**_In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been to cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong. - Charles Dickens_ **

_I feel ashamed for not stepping in sooner. I wish to be more of help and to support you, yet I was late. I know you are the type to say 'better late than never', you've said it before. But I really did hope I could act sooner. These feelings won't change._   
_I will not be a coward from now on, however, and I choose to continue with my work to help as much as I can. I will no longer sit around and wait for Tendou to find a solution while I act accordingly. I appreciate your input, but from now on I will act without discretion, and will be of use to the person I love most._

_I love you without boundaries. I love you without merits. I love you without thoughts or concerns or worries. I loved you yesterday and I love you today and I will love you tomorrow. Till the sun stops burning, till the world stops rotating and beyond the day you stop loving me, I will love you. Please do not forget this, because until I see you again my heart will burst, and all that there will be left is my love for you. So continue believing in me, Tendou, because I will continue to love you until my lives run out and I cannot remember my past ones.  
I love you, Satori._

_Yours,_

_Wakatoshi._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I made Akaashi's mom half Veela but kept saying Akaashi looks like his dad... So now I'm thinking about it, headmaster Akaashi is canonically pretty enough to be Veela I guess? (Now I want to draw their families...(*´□`)ゞ)
> 
> I love Ushijima so much! I love writing him, I'm so sad this is his last chapter in this book :(. Anyway! I have a few creator recommendations! :
> 
> |matt-yuy - A Tumblr account that posts lots of Asanoya. I think it's obvious, but I love Asanoya so much >3<
> 
> |kouxhii - An art account on Instagram! Fan of Haikyuu of course and I love their cute art style! Check them out for sure!
> 
> That's all for now! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it ^^


	43. Hinata

Date : November 15 1997

Time : 10:22 AM

Current Location : Boy's Room

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"Hinata, please. I'm begging you," Kuroo grunted, backing Hinata up in a corner and trapping him, putting his hands on either side of his head, eyeing him down. All of Hinata's body stiffened at the closeness, flinching when he could feel Kuroo's breath on his face.

"Ku-Kuroo-s-san," Hinata shivered nervously, taking a gulp when Kuroo leaned down, face to face with Kuroo now, only an inch away from each other. The intimacy was making Hinata's heart pound in his ears, his hands pushing at Kuroo's chest but it was helpless. Kuroo stubbornly stayed where he was, not even fazed by the way Hinata was pushing away.

"Hinata, you can't get rid of me. You know that," Kuroo said, catching Hinata swiftly when he tried running under Kuroo's arms, but the elder just held him by the waist, pinning him against the wall. "I'm going to make you whether you like it or not."

Hinata's face twisted up, squirming in Kuroo's arms and trying to get away, not liking how Kuroo said it. He desperately tried to get everyone else's attention, screaming and flailing his available limbs around, but it was no use. No one wanted to interfere.

"You need to wash the sweater Hinata."

Hinata's eyes widened when Kuroo said it for what was maybe the hundredth time that night, glaring up at him, using all his strength to kick backwards right on Kuroo's thigh. His attack was successful, to Hinata's relief, and he managed to sprint out of the room. "You're not gonna run forever! You just can't!" Kuroo yelled at him, holding his thigh in pain as he watched Hinata escape. "I sure as hell will try!" Hinata shouted back.

Kageyama's sweater was a gift given to him at the beginning of the year. During the first uncomfortable week he slept with it every day. Then the Hogwarts uniforms weren't necessary so everyone used them as extra blankets or folded them up to make another pillow, including Hinata. So that gave him an excuse to wear something besides the uniform.  
However, Hinata really liked Kageyama's sweater. Even though he brought a duffle bag filled with other clothes, all he's been changing were his pants, especially these past 2 weeks.

So what if we was starting to stink? At least it was Kageyama's stink.

Hinata ran out of the school, only to the small courtyard though since there was a fence he couldn't go over. If Kuroo wanted to catch him then Hinata would just run again. He's escaped Kuroo's demands of washing the sweater for the whole month Kuroo's been pestering him about it, so now he was convinced he could go on forever like this. Hinata just didn't want to take it off.

"Nii-chan?" Natsu's voice startled Hinata, but his panting turned back into levelled out breathing when he saw his sister approaching him, a bright orange ball in her hands. Saturday was a day to relax after all.

"Were you running?"  
"A bit," Hinata reached his hand out, Natsu throwing the ball to him. "Were you playing by yourself?" Natsu's face went red when Hinata asked, indicating that Hinata was right. It wasn't his intention to hurt her feelings, but her pout turned into an outright frown as she plopped herself down beside her brother, covering her face with her arms and shaking her head.

"It's nii-chan's fault! That's why I don't have any friends!"

Where this came from, Hinata wasn't sure, but in his experience all he had to do when Natsu blamed him for something was let her. Or else it would turn into an argument and they would fight, but if he thought about the situation they were in, Natsu and him couldn't afford to fight. There were other things they could waste their energy on, but maybe Natsu didn't know that yet.

"How?"  
"Because! I'm always with boys and all the girls are teasing me about it. They say all I like are a boy's attention, but that's not true! I like girl's attention too!"

The situation, to Hinata at least, was laughable. Because they were literally separated and taken away from their homes, forced to live a muggle life that they didn't belong in, and the days have gotten worse and worse as they went on. The food portions were getting smaller, the sleeping situations was unbearable, Hinata has learned more magic in a few minutes at Hogwarts than the 2 and a half months he's been here, and he had no idea what Kageyama was up to.

Yet Natsu's concern was that too many boys were giving her attention.

"I'll tell them to stop crowding you then, alright?""But that's not fair either! I like your friends! They're nice to me," Natsu huffed, her eyes glaring into the grass, Hinata thought she was about to shoot fire. "I don't want to stop talking to them either."

This was where Hinata did get a little confused though, and having a little _sister_ instead of a little brother got a bit tricky. Because now, Hinata wasn't sure what Natsu wanted. Did she want to stop talking to her female friends or did she want Hinata's friends to leave her alone? Because it looked like she didn't want either but if it was really bothering then those were her options.

"You need to find better friends then. If they're just going to judge you for being surrounded by boys who respect you then they're going to tell you boys who play with your heart are worth your attention. Which isn't true. Don't talk to boys who just make your heart waver."  
"Does Kageyama-san make your heart waver?"

A laugh erupted from Hinata, not being able to take the question seriously. Kageyama? Making his heart waver? Maybe before, but since they started dating did Hinata realize that he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Kageyama didn't look at anyone else, his romance metre was close to 0 (he made that quite clear to Hinata on several dates Hinata has attempted to make romantic) and if you put out a confession in Kageyama, unless it was a neon sign with flashing lights saying 'I love you' in capital letters, Kageyama wouldn't know what you meant.

How could Hinata's heart waver?

"He's been popular among the boys in my grade this year," Natsu muttered softly under her breath. "I wonder why."

Hinata's eyes widened in shock, grabbing Natsu's arm tightly. "What?" His voice was cold, his pupils shrinking. So this whole time, Hinata has been imagining Kageyama's popularity with girls. Never once has he thought of Kageyama being popular among _boys_.

"What do you mean by popular?" Hinata asked in shock, shaking and making Natsu whine, hitting Hinata so he would stop. But Hinata couldn't let go in case Natsu ran away. "What do you mean by popular?" Hinata asked again, hissing much more aggressively in a way that made Natsu's face scrunch up and hit her brother harder. "I mean popular! They keep talking about how cool he is and stuff. And since he's always hanging around you I get asked a bunch of questions," Natsu pulled her brother off of her and this time he let go.

"Don't worry, I didn't tell them that you two were dating. I kept it a secret."

Hinata grabbed Natsu by the arm again, shaking her with much more attention, on the verge of screaming his head off. "Why wouldn't you tell them? Why wouldn't you tell them Kageyama has a boyfriend?!" Hinata cried out, Natsu groaning and pushing Hinata away but he had a firm grip. "Let go! You're so annoying!" Natsu pushed Hinata's face away, letting out a strangled whine when Hinata headlocked her. "Why would you say that we aren't dating? We don't hide it!""Because! Then Nii-chan would be troubled by them too! It's so annoying when they keep asking questions, I thought you wouldn't like it!"

At Natsu's explanation, Hinata had to let go. In the end Natsu did have Hinata in mind, and even though the path she took wasn't the one Hinata wanted, it was fine because the intention was there.

"I like talking about Kageyama though," Hinata huffed, still annoyed that Natsu denied the fact her brother was dating a boy. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought Natsu was ashamed her brother was gay (not that it was anything to be ashamed about).  
Then again, Natsu has told Hinata's most embarrassing shatting stories, so was she really ashamed of the life choices Hinata wasn't in control of?

"Yeah, it's getting you to shut up about him that's the problem."

Hinata that day decided Natsu was no longer allowed to talk to any of the Slytherins or Tanaka.

"It's not fair! Terushima steals all the hot water!" Lev groaned, holding his towel on his arm, already ready to get into the shower. "One of us should be first sometimes at least."

A while back did they realize that the hot water (lukewarm now) coming from the showers was only good enough for about 15 minutes, so, you took about a 3-5 minute shower, then only 3-5 people could have a comfortable shower out of the hundred odd some people there. Which wasn't fair.  
So to make things a little more fair, they decided to do rock-paper-scissors to figure out who got first dibs on the hot water, and somehow, every night, Terushima won. And unfortunately, Terushima coincidentally took 15 minute showers.

"Get better at playing the game, kid," Terushima snickered, his shirt already off as he walked past Lev. "Rules are rules." Everyone hated Terushima's weird luck, but they all agreed on it. Sometimes Terushima ended up taking a 10 minute shower too and the next person was able to get a bit of hot water though, so it wasn't all that bad. Still, it was frustrating watching Terushima getting out of the steamy shower every night while everyone else froze to do death before bed.

"That's another one he won though! How is that possible?" Kogane groaned, pointing accusingly at Terushima before he could get into the shower. "He's jinxing it! There's no way he could be winning this whole time without some sort of charm!"

Terushima blinked at Kogane, then smirked. He went up to him, holding out a fist and challengingly raising an eyebrow. "Wanna go again then, Gawa-chi?" Kogane gritted his teeth, holding out a fist as well, nodding firmly.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Kogane held out a scissors while Terushima held out a rock. "Dammit!" Kogane groaned, fisting his hair up. "I thought I had this one!""Well, it's obvious that I'm not doing anything. You guys just have sucky luck," Terushima said cockily, humming happily as he went by and approached the shower, about to have one of the warmer ones that Hinata didn't know he would have missed so much. He just hoped Natsu was having a comfortable time showering at least.

"Still, Terushima. Shouldn't you feel a little bad for the rest of us?" Kuroo asked from the back. Him and Bokuto always made sure everyone else took a shower before them, especially during the days where the Ministry felt cranky and turned off all the water altogether whenever they felt like it. Once, only 3 out of all of the boys got a shower that night. Not fun for anyone.

"You get a comfortable time while the rest of us suffer. Don't you have a conscious, Terushima?" Terushima pursed his lips, turning his head and huffing. "O-Of course I do! But you guys were the ones who made that stupid game a rule! If it were up to me then we should've been rotating the whole time who gets the hot water. That would've made more sense."

There were a few quite mumbles around the room, a few minor agreements, but no discussion of whether that was true or not. Hinata, at this point, didn't care if he got hot water or not. He just wanted to take a damn shower before the Ministry decided to cut the water again!

"How about we take a shower together then?" Hinata suggested out loud, almost all the other boys looking at him with confusion, and those who heard properly, with disgust. "We can't get everyone, but at least it'll be double. Won't that make it more fair?"

There was some discussions, causing Hinata to beam with pride that an idea of his was actually taken into consideration instead of just being dismissed like usual. Kuroo stood at the front, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, alright," Bokuto joined him, the two of them standing beside each other like real leaders. Hinata was admiring how confident they looked. "Let's try that way tonight then. How do you guys want to partner off?"

Some of the guys rejected the idea, saying they would rather shower in freezing cold water than with another guy. So it did eliminate spots to the hot water, giving Hinata a chance to get the warm shower he's been quietly craving. "If we go to the shower together we won't waste time," Lev said to him, patting Hinata on the head. "Our surface area combined will make two normal people!"

Hinata wanted to argue that if he paired up with someone even shorter he would get more hot water, but by the time he was looking for someone else to pair off with everyone had a partner. So Hinata was stuck with Lev.

"Okay," Kuroo nodded in approval when he saw everyone cooperate. "Youngest go first." There was a sea of groans among the more senior students, but Hinata didn't mind that either. There weren't too many 1st or 2nd years, and the third years seemed to be in that weird phase where they didn't want to show their bodies to one another (understandably so) so Hinata and Lev ended up being sixth in line for a 'hot' shower.

"Scrub my back, okay Shouyou?" Lev said with a brazen smile, making Hinata laugh uncomfortably. Lev wasn't weird or a pervert or anything, but sometimes the things he said made Hinata a little confused. Like how he showed off how pretty his sister was all the time. Hinata thought Natsu was cute and all but he didn't have to shove it in everyone's face.

Yet Hinata also understood that when Yaku left, Lev was a little bit shocked and flustered. It took him a while to process his absence, and frankly he was still processing it. So Hinata let his weird words slide for the past few days, letting him mumble little phrases in Russian that Hinata could only pray weren't curses, and during the night time shift around as much as he wanted even if it did keep Hinata up an extra 45 minutes.

"If you scrub mine!" Hinata replied with a shaky smile, Lev's bright one making him feel uneasy but at least he didn't look too depressed. He's gotten better, and that was enough to make Hinata feel at ease.

"Wow, what a combination," Kuroo chuckled, patting Hinata's head. "The chibi and the giant.""Stop calling me that! I'm still in my growing prime!" Hinata exclaimed frustratedly when Kuroo called him a 'chibi', waving his hands around. "I'm going to exceed both you and Kageyama! Just watch, I'm going to be a giant when I reach my growth spurt!"

"Just get in the shower," Kuroo scoffed, pushing Hinata's head in the bathroom and letting him and Lev get in one of the stalls. Since it was a bit cramped, Hinata's back was to the wall while Lev was struggling to keep his head from poking out and accidentally looking into another person's.

"It _is_ hot!" Lev exclaimed excitedly when he turned the shower on, looking over at Hinata and aiming the shower head at him. "I haven't felt hot water in ages!"

And yes, Hinata moaned. Hot water pressing on his skin, going down the cold surface and contrasting to make a nice tingling feeling go up Hinata's body. "That's nice," Hinata mumbled, closing his eyes and indulging in the 2 odd some minutes they would have with the water. November was getting colder, so a hot shower was well deserved. He just wished he could go back to Hogwarts where he didn't have to feel grateful for this.

"Sorry I'm taking so much space up," Lev laughed nervously, taking one of the bars of soap and gesturing for Hinata to turn around. "I'll wash your hair! In exchange for you to scrub my back."

Hinata thought it was a fair trade, so he turned around. He wasn't the type to get shy about his body, especially in front of someone who he didn't particularly care about like Lev.  
So obviously, he was starting to wonder what would the situation would be like if he were to share a shower with Kageyama.

Kageyama in the shower led to Kageyama naked, obviously. Kageyama naked and wet with steam around him, his hair pressed on his forehead as he gave Hinata that cold yet incredibly hot gaze with his eyes. Before, Hinata never thought twice about seeing Kageyama naked in the shower, and he's seen Kageyama shirtless an abundance of times during the summer.  
Now he was realizing how he took those moments for granted.

"Shouyou, I'm flattered. But I thought you have a boyfriend?"

In a burst of confusion, Hinata looked up at Lev, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion before looking down and noticing his erection starting to make an appearance. And it wasn't stopping.

"Ack-!" Hinata gasped, pushing Lev away (not far though) and ran out of the shower stall, his face pink with embarrassment. That was the first time he's ever felt something like that - and it just _had_ to be in the shower with Lev.

"Go down, go down, go down!" Hinata growled to his boner that was not going down because Hinata's mind was filled with Kageyama. He had a towel around his waist, running back to the boy's room where the others who finished their showers were, but Hinata's boner still wasn't down. He covered it awkwardly with his hands, coughing (which made it worse) before shifting awkwardly to the side where his blanket and pillows were. 

"Hinata, put something on. You're going to catch a cold," Sugawara scolded lightly, Hinata giving him a tight smile and a nod before ducking into his blanket, covering himself up completely.

Now, it was just him and his boner.

"You-" Hinata covered his mouth, remembering that just because he couldn't see them didn't mean they couldn't hear them. "You idiot!" He whispered, pushing his erection down but it just sprang back up to life like it didn't care that Hinata was in an awkward teenager phase and now wasn't the time to handle it. He knew about erections and boners and wet dreams and stuff, but he always thought that the first time they would happen would be in the comfort of his own home or Hogwarts, and Kageyama would just be a soft call away.

Kageyama wasn't here, Hinata was very uncomfortable, and now, he had no idea what to do.

"Hinata?" Bokuto called out from a distance, making Hinata flinch because even Bokuto couldn't see him like this. Only Kageyama could! He didn't want to tell any body else about his embarrassing situation.

"Hinata, you forgot your clothes in the shower," Bokuto was getting closer, Hinata could hear it. "You alright?" Hinata gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth when Bokuto touched his head, jumping back in the blanket.

"Ju-Just leave it here!" Hinata yelped, jutting his hand out from under the blanket, waiting for his clothes. "Thank you, Bokuto-san!" There was a moment of silence, and Hinata could basically feel the confusion going through Bokuto. He felt the clothes plopped down on his hand, but also could hear the shifting on plopping of Bokuto's ass on the ground. Why was he sitting down?

"Hinata, are you okay? You just ran out," Bokuto said with genuine concern. "Is something the matter? You can tell me," Bokuto went on, making Hinata stammer in flushed shame, conflicted about what he should do.

Slowly, Hinata poked his head out from the blanket, looking over at a patient Bokuto, a smile on his face as he waited for his junior to tell him what was the matter. From the corner of his eyes, Hinata could see that Sugawara and Tendou were trying to not eavesdrop (Sugawara more than Tendou) but couldn't help but lean in. So Hinata went closer to Bokuto so he could whisper, Bokuto leaning his head down so that Hinata could speak into his ear.

"I have a boner," Hinata mumbled, Bokuto's eyes widening for a brief second. "I don't know what to do with it."

After a few seconds of processing, Bokuto started to laugh. It made Hinata even more annoyed and confused, pushing Bokuto lightly on the chest. "it's not funny!""I'm sorry!" Bokuto laughed, wiping his eyes and shaking his head. "It-It's not funny but-" Bokuto let out another burst of loud laughter. "But it is!"

Hinata scowled, hiding himself under the blankets again. Obviously there was no helping the situation and he should just hide in the corner and never speak to anyone again while he waited for the damn erection to subside down.

"I'm sorry Hinata, you're just so young and innocent."

Hinata's eyes widened, taking the blanket off himself and glaring at Bokuto. "That's not true!" 'Innocent'. Would an innocent person be thinking perverted thoughts about someone else? The whole reason he got an erection for the first time was because he was thinking of Kageyama in _that_ way. Hinata wasn't innocent! And he didn't want to be either. He was a man too after all.

"Cold shower," Bokuto said, standing up and dusting his legs off. "Cold shower always works."

And that was how Hinata lost his luxury of a hot shower for a cold one, and found out that masturbating was something he had to learn on his own.

"What do you think Yamaguchi is doing right now?"  
"I dunno. What do you think Tanaka is doing right now?"  
"Who knows. I miss Yaku-san."

Since the pure bloods went away, all of the boys left were cramped into one room, the girls in the other. All the houses were mixed, all ages and grades. Hinata didn't know what to think of the situation they were in now.

"I can't believe we're being treated this way," Sugawara scoffed quietly from the sides, rubbing his face in frustration. "This is taking it too far. I wish I knew what was happening at Hogwarts."

Hinata wished that as well, to see Hogwarts again, to do magic again. To see Kageyama again. That was what he wanted the most right about now, and it wasn't that fair that he couldn't even call anymore. He tried writing a few times, but every time he wanted to get his letter approved by the Ministry to send he was declined. He wasn't even sure what he was writing wrong. He wasn't exposing anything!

"We need to start doing something," Semi said out loud, turning over to everyone and holding a fist up. "We have to fight!""Put your hand down," Sugawara sighed, grabbing Semi's wrist and making him put his fist down. "It's not that easy in our position."  
"But it's not impossible either."

Tendou's voice startled everyone, especially with how serious and solemn it was. Usually he was teasing everyone, singing or cheerfully putting on an annoying show that even Hinata had a hard time enjoying. 

"Tendou?"  
"It's not easy, but it's not impossible," Tendou said again, shifting to his side and facing Sugawara but everyone could hear him. "Isn't it tiring? Being treated lesser than what you are constantly, not being acknowledged. Aren't there limits that even the biggest pushover can't stand?"

Hinata didn't think of himself of a pushover. But being stepped on all the time like how he's allowed the Ministry to do this whole time. Maybe he was a bigger pushover than he thought.

"I'm just saying," Tendou went on, moving back to his back and stretching his arms up. Hinata watched the whole thing from his little corner in the room, not being able to fall asleep anyway. "The biggest movements start with the smallest muscles. You say it's not easy, but it doesn't have to be hard. Even if it's something small, don't you think the effort is worth it?"

Perhaps, in Hinata's case, the smallest movements were the most important. From switching to a magic school from the muggle school he came from, to being an older brother to confessing to Kageyama to being a boyfriend Kageyama could be proud to stand beside. The smallest movements were the most important, no matter how overlooked they were.

"What did you have in mind, Tendou?" Sugawara finally asked, and even though it was too dark for Hinata to see it, he could imagine Tendou's sly, cocky grin that indicated he had something planned all along.

"I am so glad you asked."

Hinata tapped his pencil on the edge of the table the next morning, sitting crossed legged on the ground as he stared at the blank piece of paper and tried to brainstorm what was acceptable to be put in the letter and what wasn't.

This would be his twentieth attempt that month.

"Homework?" Bokuto asked from behind his shoulder, making Hinata jump a bit but then shook his head. Bokuto sat beside him, looking at the blank sheet of paper as well. "Then what is it?"  
"I'm trying to send a letter to Kageyama," Hinata admitted, biting the inside of his cheek. "But when I go and try to get it approved by the Ministry to send they decline it. So I'm trying to figure out what's allowed to be written and what's not.""Oh," Bokuto blinked, sitting up a bit straighter now that Hinata mentioned it. "I had this problem too whenI was sending letters to Akaashi." Hinata listened intensely when Bokuto moved the paper in front of Hinata.

"You can only say 'I love you'. It's the only way it's allowed to send."

Hinata knew that he couldn't talk about the school or give an address, he wasn't that clueless or stupid. But only being allowed to say 'I love you' was a bit... . And it wasn't like he didn't want to mention that because he always ended his letters off that way! He just wanted to be able to talk about his day too and how he was doing (sugar coated lies most of the time, especially the recent ones).

"They don't allow over complex letters anymore, nothing over half a page," Bokuto explained with a pout. "I'm scared it's frustrating for Akaashi. He hasn't written me back yet."

A wave of anxiety washed over Hinata when Bokuto said Akaashi hasn't written back yet over the past 2 weeks he's been writing. Kageyama wasn't a Ravenclaw or anything, but what if he got annoyed with just half a page of writing from Hinata? He didn't want to be yelled at for sending 'nonsense', Kageyama was probably waiting for an SOS letter or an address.

It was better to think he wasn't allowed to send letters, and in a way that was the truth.

"Has anyone else written?"  
"Tendou just got one from Wakatoshi-kun, but I don't know what it's about," Bokuto shrugged. In the boy's room it was only a few of them, the rest going out and playing with a deflated, broken ball and kicking it around. Hinata did not join them that Sunday though, too focused and determined on writing a proper, long, sendable letter instead so that he could have some sort of contact.

"Don't be so stressed. You're too young for that," Bokuto chuckled, standing up and reaching on arm out for Hinata to grab. Hinata took Bokuto's hand, letting him pull him up, and even though Hinata wasn't really in the mood for kicking a ball around, he did want to go outside and smell some fresh air.

"I miss doing magic," Hinata whined. "I wanna make a potion! Do spells! I'll even do a Divination class at this point, that's how desperate I am!""You should ask Tendou then," Bokuto said, as if it were the obvious solution to Hinata's lack of magic problem. Instead, Hinata furrowed his eyebrows confused, the two of them stepping outside and shivering at the gust of November wind that blew.

"Tendou-san? What for?" Hinata didn't particularly enjoy Tendou, especially after calling him 'Shrimp-chan', which was completely uncalled for since Hinata was definitely going to grow!   
Bokuto just looked at him, like he was shocked that Hinata didn't know something about Tendou. They weren't friends though.

"Tendou can do nonverbal magic. You should get him to teach you."

There was always something weird about Tendou and Hinata took pride in the fact that his suspicions were correct. He was just wrong about what it was.

Tendou could Apparate. He learned that the hard way when Tendou's plushie penguin accidentally revealed itself in front of Hinata by Apparating on it's own once Tendou accidentally touched it with his foot. Someone as young as Tendou, Apparating was rather impressive (and of course Hinata was jealous). Tendou also liked going out in the middle of the night. He's heard Tendou sneaking out from time to time, using the window instead of the door, and if anyone else noticed then they sure didn't say anything about it.  
Now Hinata learned that Tendou could do nonverbal magic? That was insane! Tendou was a weird person, a beast in Hinata's eyes.

He couldn't help but admire Tendou.

"Oh, Shrimp-chan!" Hinata glowered at the name. "Didn't see you there. Did you need something?"

It was the cafeteria, also a studying area for the students, and Tendou was acting like it was office or something. A Latin book in his hand that Hinata couldn't read for shit and a cup of what looked like hot chocolate with too much sugar placed down beside him, Tendou stuck his chin out confidently when Hinata scowled, his eyes lowering as he inspected Tendou.

Oddly powerful and insanely cocky. Hinata had mixed feelings about his type of Slytherin.

"I want to learn nonverbal magic," Hinata said bluntly, not caring if a teacher heard him. They didn't care anymore anyway unless they were attacking the Ministry, which Hinata still didn't know the plan for yet. No one told him anything but he still wanted to be useful.

"Teach me how to to do nonverbal magic."

Hinata knew Tendou was mean, but he didn't have to laugh until he cried. Hinata didn't think it was that insane of a request either. He was a good wizard with a good sense, he could handle a few nonverbal spells here and there! Tendou was discrediting him.

Nonverbal spells were complicated, Hinata has heard this before. Not only was it hard for adult wizards to perfect them, conjuring them in general was difficult and it was possible that a person could go their whole lives not knowing how to do magic without saying a word.  
But Hinata wanted-no, he _needed_ to learn how to do this. If he could learn how to do nonverbal magic, control himself and perform a spell without any Ministry person catching him, taking his victims by surprise, then Hinata might just get out of here.  
Then he could get his sister back home and they could _actually_ be safe.

"Who told you to ask me?" Tendou asked, raising an eyebrow at Hinata. "Let me guess. Kou-chan?""Yes! Now teach me," Hinata pumped two fists in front of his chest, puffing his upper body out to show the confidence he had in himself. "I will be a good student! So say yes and teach me." Tendou looked at Hinata up and down skeptically before standing up with his Latin book and showing a page to Hinata.

"Read this."

Hinata's mouth went as dry as a desert when he saw the Latin writing, so familiar but not a word made sense. How could he read this? Could Tendou read it? That was insane, he was pretty sure not even Kuroo could!

"Read this and I'll teach you."

Hinata glared up at Tendou, he probably knew Hinata couldn't do it and that was why he was teasing him so much. Hinata didn't need to read a book in order to do nonverbal magic! He just needed to do the magic. A wizard doesn't even need to say anything during a _non_ verbal spell, so why was it so important to read Latin before learning the techniques?

"How are you supposed to advance when you don't even know the basics?" Tendou scoffed, shutting the book aggressively before picking his hot chocolate up and passing by Hinata. "You can't expect to be at level 10 when you haven't even completed level 1."

Hinata's face went red at Tendou's uncalled for accusation, not liking how he was being treated inferior to Tendou. This was _Tendou_. Singing off key, sneaking out in the middle of the night, stealing from the kitchen, making stupid songs Tendou.   
How was he so damn powerful? When did he even have that time to practice nonverbal spells?

"Then teach me!" Hinata shouted, watching Tendou's back as he left the cafeteria. The redhead stopped where he was, turning his head ever so slightly so Hinata could only see the corners of his eyes and mouth. "Teach me the basics! I want to learn and be useful for Kageyama and my family!" Hinata went on passionately, he could hear the footsteps of the Ministry supervisors coming, so he had to make this quick.

"Even if we don't know each other well, you're my family too, Tendou-san. So teach me! Then one day I can protect you too!"

_Boke,_

_I heard I can send you a letter as long as it's appropriate and in moderation. I don't know what that means, but I can do it. You know I suck at writing, and I might spell things wrong, but I'll do my best since you aren't writing to me. I felt like it was my turn to make the first move._

_Things at Hogwarts are ~~wir~~ weird. I say this because ~~Tsooki~~ ~~Tsukishee~~ Tsuki said so. Since the pure bloods came back, there has been tension. Headmaster Akaashi said that there should be a change happening in the next few weeks, but I don't see anything different happening. I have been trying to do part by ~~partis~~ participating in Nishinoya-san's rallies and protests, but I don't think anything is working. It might all be in vane._

_My older sister started working on an article in Paris about muggle life and the ways muggles have been treated in history by wizards. I thought muggles were nasty, but wizards were ~~worster~~_ _more worse! I know your father is a muggle, so I don't mean him. But wizards were terrible and both my parents are wizards! I think because of the way the textbooks at Hogwarts were written, that's why I thought muggles were bad. Turns out it was a two way street._

_Headmaster Akaashi looks stressed. Yamaguchi had an idea that we make cookies and tea for him but Tsuki was a piece of shit and didn't come with us, so it was only Yamaguchi and I. He liked them, but I can see the bags under his eyes. Stressed._

_Yamaguchi told me stories about you and now I feel weird. I'm glad you get along with others and I was happy to hear you still had the excited spirit I know you have, but thinking about it with other people made my heart clench. It was scary, I didn't like that feeling. He explained that you talked about me a lot though, so it made me feel better. But don't do that a lot. You have already trouble Kozume-san._

_Yamaguchi is not as smart a person as I thought. He still tries to hang out with Tsuki, but Tsuki's a piece of shit still. I hope he smartens up. Maybe he should hang out with me more and learn how to kick his ass and knock some sense into him._

_The rest of the people that came back, I think are still in shock. I ~~notist~~ noticed that Iwa-san is more dull these days even if Oikawa-san is beside him. Tanaka-san is doing fine, but he has been helping Nishinoya-san with the flyers and handing them out. They are so loud._

_I think I want to spend ~~Krismas~~ Christmas at home this year. Do you want to join our family? Of course, you don't have to. But my older sister is coming, so I think that would be fun for us. If you want though, you don't have to. I'm just saying, if you wanted to come, you could come and you're invited to come, but if you have something planned then that's fine too. Unless you wanted to bring your whole family, I'm fine with that too. Don't overthink it, it's not that I'm ~~forsing~~ forcing you to come over, if you want to is what I'm saying._

_Anyway, I miss you. I didn't get to say it during Halloween, but I do. Don't imagine my face, I know you are right now. Since it's a letter, I can get away with it for now. When you get back don't ask me to say it out loud because I absolutely won't._

_I'm trying to do what I can here at Hogwarts, studying and getting better at understanding your world. I have so many questions for you, but I don't want to waste my letter time on that since you can't even write back anyway. So instead, I'll continue telling you how much I miss you._

_I do. I really do._

_Your boke,_

_Tobio._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why Kageyama can spell 'Yamaguchi' and not 'Tsukishima', just look up how to spell Yamaguchi's name in Japanese and it will make a little more sense.
> 
> Some content creators I would like to recommend again! Hope you guys go check them out!
> 
> |Flightless Crows by The_Busy_Bee - Another Asanoya, obviously it is my crack and I need this ship to survive. It basically sailed, so haha. This is an a/b/o, I don't know how far it will go since as of September 2020 it is still in progress, but I love it so far and so much ~fluff~. Love that!
> 
> |The Unknown Is Scary, Isn't It? by PiningTsukkiEnthusiast - Ushiten! Because we need that. Pure, wholesome and made me teary eyed even though it wasn't angsty in the slightest.
> 
> Thank you for reading, please go check these writers out! Love you guys and I'll see you in the next chapter. Stay safe everyone!


	44. Yamaguchi

Date : November 17 1997

Time : 8:32 AM

Current Location : Hufflepuff Hallway (he just wants to get to class)

Status : Mission - Failed

Coming back to Hogwarts was an awkward experience, especially when the other students were unapologetically surprised Yamaguchi was one of the pure bloods. It took Yamaguchi a little bit to realize that when whispers surrounded him, it wasn't because he was Tsukishima's lackey anymore - they were interested in Yamaguchi's story and how he got sent away.

"He doesn't seem like a person to do anything," he could hear one person saying, but kept his head down. "But if he's a pure blood, I'm wondering what he did...""It's always the quiet ones! We can't get too close though. You hear what some of the other people got suspended did? I heard someone went as far as doing Legilimency spells on all the professors! Talk about freaky."

Yamaguchi's shoulders went stiff as he heard people making speculations about what exactly it was he did in order to leave. It made Yamaguchi extremely uncomfortable even more now whenever he passed by the Slytherin Tower because they were all looking at him without shame.   
So Yamaguchi avoided the Slytherin Tower altogether up till now.

"Watch your fucking mouth," a deep voice growled at, getting Yamaguchi's attention right away. At first he thought it was Tsukishima, coming to his rescue like how he would whenever someone was giving Yamaguchi a hard time (though Tsukishima wasn't always there), but he realized just in time that Tsukishima wouldn't be so aggressive about it. He probably would just quietly walk behind Yamaguchi, intimidating people as a way of 'helping'.

"You think you can just talk shit?" Kageyama scared off a good amount of people that were whispering, Yamaguchi's own house and those who passed by to get to class. "Move it! Such big talkers for little words."

Yamaguchi's eyes widened when he saw Kageyama standing up for him. Not because he didn't expect it, but because this has happened before too. Kageyama was the one coming to his rescue whether it was Tsukishima giving him a hard time or random students Yamaguchi didn't know. Kageyamga was always coincidentally around and didn't hesitate showing that aggressive side in order to get them away from Yamaguchi.

To this day though, even after 4 years, Yamaguchi never knew why.

"Annoying," Kageyama mumbled, not even looking at Yamaguchi as he started walking. Which was another thing about Kageyama that Yamaguchi never got. He never asked for a thank you.

"Wait! Kageyama," Yamaguchi walked faster in order to walk beside him. "Thank you for that, but you didn't have to," Yamaguchi said, his face flushed from walking so quickly. "I'm okay with that kind of talk, I just ignore it. Like you said, they're just big talkers."

Kageyama looked down at Yamaguchi with a sort of curious look. Now that they were side by side and Yamaguchi was actually looking at Kageyama properly, he noticed the height difference. Not a big one, but Kageyama was significantly taller, maybe Tsukishima's height. Which made Yamaguchi feel a little weird, being able to talk to someone of similar stature and attitude.

God, Yamaguchi felt pathetic.

"I don't do it for you," Kageyama said, bluntly in a way that made Yamaguchi's heart drop a little. "It just pisses me off that people think they can just talk about other people like that without any reason. Like they have something to say - they're all just prickholes that need to be humbled!" Kageyama huffed, making Yamaguchi spit out in a bit of laughter.  
So this was what Kageyama was like. Maybe Hinata wasn't as crazy as he thought.

"So you're nice?" Yamaguchi teased with a small giggle making Kageyama's ears turn pink. "Huh?""Don't worry. I'll keep it a secret." Seeing the confused and equally flushed face of Kageyama made Yamaguchi laugh even harder. "Or maybe I can tell a few people."

Kageyama didn't hold back pushing Yamaguchi on the shoulder, but he could tell Kageyama was holding back. 

"Hey, Yamaguchi," Kageyama said suddenly before the two of the split up in the hallways to get to their classes. "Did you happen to talk to Hinata a lot and, uh, have anything you wanted to tell me?"

Kageyama started fidgeting where he stood, looking down, his neck turning pink in a way that made Yamaguchi bite back a smile. Was it like this usually? Being so flustered and embarrassed, but because you're worried you threw out your pride, not giving a damn? Did Tsukishima ask other people how Yamaguchi was doing? He sent one letter the whole time Yamaguchi was gone - did he even care?   
Even though Yamaguchi thought him and Hinata were in similar situations, he realized in the moment that that wasn't the case at all. Hinata was much better off than Yamaguchi thought he ever would be.

"Hinata?" Yamaguchi chuckled softly, covering his mouth with three fingers, looking up at Kageyama with a bright smile. "You're a very lucky person, Kageyama. I can say that much."

Yamaguchi still hasn't seen Tsukishima this whole time and he was starting to believe it was a combined effort. 

He didn't want to see Tsukishima just yet, wanting to prepare what he was about to say and tell Tsukishima everything he experienced while he was away. The first few days he purposefully didn't go to classes he had with Slytherins, in the Great Hall he would keep his head down as much as possible and never went to the library. But those first few days turned into a week and all of a sudden the more time passed the more awkward it got to find him and talk.

So now, Yamaguchi was lonely as ever, craving Tsukishima's presence but didn't know how to go about that just yet. Frustrating, but Yamaguchi couldn't bring himself to approach the Slytherin Tower either.

"Fireball..." Yamaguchi mumbled as he drew out a Phoenix on the dirt, outside on the Quidditch field where the Hufflepuffs were practising. Yamaguchi should've been practising also, but excused himself when he found himself getting distracted. It was the one time Yamaguchi felt fine that someone was taking pity on him.

Yamaguchi couldn't help it, but he did miss the Minister's Phoenix. After taking care of the bird for so long, he got a bit attached to the point where he was willing to stay at that shitty school if it meant he could stay with Fireball. But he told himself that if he didn't go back to Hogwarts then there wouldn't be anyone to report what happened and they would need Yamaguchi in order to make their force stronger to fight against the Minister's surprise villainous plan.

What a joke that was. Not once did the headmaster call Yamaguchi to his office, no questions were asked, not even his classmates seemed interested in what he had to say about what he saw in that deranged pathetic excuse of a school. And it wasn't like there wasn't any interviews or conversations happening. Iwaizumi seemed to have a lot of people asking questions, Tanaka was telling everyone about how the muggle world was being treated unfairly and they needed to stand up together in order to fight a good fight. Yaku and Futakuchi expressed greatly how they really didn't want to be back at Hogwarts (apparently Futakuchi almost got expelled right when he set foot on Hogwarts property). Everyone had such a huge reaction, their presence was so known.

Yamaguchi was starting to wonder if anyone would've even noticed if he came back or not.

"Yo."

Yamaguchi gasped when he heard a sudden voice, whipping his head around. After months of the headmaster calling him, maybe he had a bit of trauma.

"Not up for Quidditch, eh?" Iwaizumi asked, sitting beside Yamaguchi on the ground. "What're you drawing? A Phoenix?" Yamaguchi and Iwaizumi weren't close friends, not as close as him and Kuroo at least, but Iwaizumi was a pretty good senior back at the school and Yamaguchi had a bit of opportunity to learn more about him.

"Not exactly," Yamaguchi mumbled back, pulling his knees up to his chest and hiding his face. "Don't think I'm going to play the best Seeker anytime soon." Iwaizumi laughed, shrugging as he handed Yamaguchi the pumpkin juice he was drinking, already half finished. Yamaguchi took a sip.

"How's Oikawa-san?"  
"As clingy as ever," Iwaizumi sighed, leaning back, using his hands as support behind him. "But I'll let him do what he wants for a bit. He's earned it." Yamaguchi would do anything if Tsukishima was clinging onto him right now. It really made him think that some people really didn't know how good they had it, Yamaguchi included.

"What about you?" Iwaizumi asked, taking his pumpkin juice back when Yamaguchi handed it to him. "How've you been adjusting?" Yamaguchi let out a shallow exhale as he looked down at his dirt drawing of Fireball. No one has asked him that yet.

"I've been..." Yamaguchi hummed as he thought about what these past few days have been like. "Better." Iwaizumi let out a soft laugh. "I would hope so." Yamaguchi was able to laugh as well.

"I don't know, I feel like something dramatic is supposed to happen, you know? Like, there's supposed to be this grand finish or something. It just feels so..." Yamaguchi had to think of a perfect word to get his message across.

"Underwhelming."

Iwaizumi nodded as he listened to Yamaguchi, looking up at the sky and letting out a soft hum. "Is that what you think?" Iwaizumi asked, looking over at Yamaguchi. "Or is that what you want?" Yamaguchi froze a bit when Iwaizumi called him out on it, silently telling himself he shouldn't have expected anything less of Iwaizumi. He wasn't socially numb like other people in Yamaguchi's life.

"Because I want this to happen in the best way possible. Peacefully," Iwaizumi explained, standing up and dusting the dirt off his pants. "Dramatic or not, whichever. I just don't want anyone hurt."

Yamaguchi watched as Iwaizumi turned around, looking back and seeing Oikawa angrily glaring at him, his hands on his hips and a pout spreading on his face as Iwaizumi took more steps towards him. Was Iwaizumi able to feel his presence?

"See ya, Yamaguchi. Don't be too reckless." Iwaizumi said that as he went over to a very upset Oikawa, putting him into head lock and biting the back of his neck. Was that normal for couples? For one of them to cling onto the other but no one was uncomfortable or hated it? Was Yamaguchi doing something wrong when he looked for Tsukishima or following him around.

"Iwa-chan is so mean! I was waiting for you the whole time!"  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was just keeping a junior a bit of company, that's all. He looked a bit lonely..."

The Slytherin Tower is still scary to Yamaguchi. For some reason it looked bigger than the rest of the Towers even though they were all the same size. Students coming out would eye Yamaguchi weirdly but be on their way quickly. They were probably wondering what his business was with Slytherins.

"-and I didn' wan'im to piss in 'is panties or anythin', but 'e was bein' a bitch," someone was saying as they walked out, and Yamaguchi's last anxious nerve was struck, jumping in front of the people who walked down the stairs with a stunned look on his face.

"Is Tsukishima Kei in the Tower?!"

It wasn't his intention to ask the question so aggressively, but it seemed to get their attention none the less. Now that Yamaguchi did have their attention though, he was able to look at the people he stepped in front of properly and realized that he was staring in doubles. Identical twins walking together, one in Ravenclaw and one in Slytherin, though Yamaguchi never met them before.

Everything about them was the same, except one had silver hair and the other blond. Probably to lessen the mix-ups.

"Eh?" 

Yamaguchi's face went red when the blond one raised an eyebrow all confused at him. "What're you sayin', kid?" The blond one asked, making Yamaguchi's shoulders tense up. Were all Slytherins this aggressive and outspoken? He used to think it was just a stereotype but the more he met them the more he gradually found out that every stereotype about Slytherin was correct.

"Oh, uhm," Yamaguchi cleared his throat, stepping forward a bit. "Tsu-Tsukishima Ke-""Yamaguchi."

Yamaguchi's eyes widened when he heard the familiar voice, a tall figure behind the twins coming in their direction. "Tsuki!" Yamaguchi exclaimed in excitement and all of a sudden the worry and awkwardness of seeing him for the first time melted away.

"What're you doing here?" Tsukishima asked in annoyance, taking Yamaguchi's wrist. "Who said you can come here?"

It was like Yamaguchi never left. The twins left them alone, mumbling to each other probably their guesses of who Yamaguchi was to Tsukishima. There could only be a few accurate guesses though.

"I-I wanted to talk to you. To see you and-""Not here," Tsukishima hissed, still his hand grasping Yamaguchi's wrist and tugging him in another direction. Yamaguchi didn't really understand since before he used to come over to the Slytherin Tower all the time and waited for him. So maybe something happened while Yamaguchi was away - which still felt like didn't happen with the way everyone was acting!

"I-""Wait," Tsukishima looked around first before pushing Yamaguchi under one of the staircases. This indicated to Yamaguchi he didn't have much time before one of them moved, so he had to make it fast.

"Talk."

Tsukishima's eyes were narrowed down at Yamaguchi, impatiently waiting as he crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. Like Yamaguchi didn't have much time and Tsukishima wanted to make this snappy. He probably did want to make it snappy! He probably wanted to get the talk over with Yamaguchi and act like nothing happened, just like the rest of them. All this talk about doing something - Yamaguchi sure didn't see any action!

"I..." Yamaguchi started off but then stopped. What was he supposed to say? To tell Yamaguchi everything that happened? From the assembly on the first day the pure bloods came back, Tsukishima could probably guess. And it wasn't like Tsukishima was ignorant in any way. He kept up with current events, was educated in the most updated way possible and never missed a detail if it meant knowledge and benefit. So to tell him his story, Yamaguchi was starting to feel a little bit silly for thinking that was necessary.

"I..." Yamaguchi said again, wanting to talk about how he was waiting for Tsukishima to write but then again, stopped himself. Because Tsukishima did write - Yamaguchi just didn't reply.   
To be fair though, before Yamaguchi did write first about a dozen times, waiting for a reply in vain. At first he thought what Tsukishima was saying in the letters wasn't appropriate, but once he finally got the letter near the end of October it was confirmed by Tsukishima himself that he wasn't writing at all. So that was a real downer, but after that Yamaguchi just wasn't able to find time to write everything he wanted to say down. To bring that up now, it also seemed a waste for the little time Tsukishima was giving him.

"I-""Just tell me already!" Tsukishima snapped, his face turning red which Yamaguchi could only guess was from anger. Yamaguchi flinched, taking a step back, his lip shaking at the sudden reaction.   
Obviously. This was probably bothering Tsukishima. He probably didn't want to go on with this, he probably just wanted to leave as quickly as possible. It was written all over Tsukishima's face, the way he talked and the way he looked at Yamaguchi. 

The way Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi. 

It didn't make Yamaguchi feel nice at all.

"Did you even miss me?"

Yamaguchi asked in a whisper, his final question that he didn't even think over as he asked at. It clearly took Tsukishima by surprise, his eyes widening and being taken aback as Yamaguchi's face went from concerned to upset to disappointed. He didn't need a verbal answer when he saw Tsukishima's reaction, and silence spoke louder than any 'no' Yamaguchi didn't want to hear.

"I-I assumed as-as much b-but-" Yamaguchi coughed, wanting to cover up either the sobs or the crying that was approaching. "I'm sorry, Tsuki-" Yamaguchi couldn't hold it anymore, racing past Tsukishima, ignoring the soft call out of his name, though he was tempted to turn around.

Yamaguchi has known Tsukishima his whole life. So how come it was now that he felt like he finally knew what he was thinking?

"This years O.W.L.s are supposed to be easy. Because of the transfer and all."  
"Easy? Are the transferred students even able to do it at this point? It seems a little difficult."  
"Well I would want to, especially the seniors! It'd be crazy since that's our only way to get good jobs!"

After his and Tsukishima's little argument of another, Yamaguchi has been cooping himself up in self isolation for as long as possible. It was a bit lonely and he so desperately wanted to try again and see if Tsukishima would talk to him again, but the more he thought about it the more anxious he would get and in the end, Yamaguchi just gave up.

This time, Yamaguchi didn't want to make the first move.

"Move! He's coming!"

Yamaguchi's head looked up to see who those loud 3rd years were talking about. It didn't come as a surprise when he saw Kageyama walking in the library, but then he started going straight to a bookshelf and browsing for a book.

That part was surprising.

"Kageyama," Yamaguchi greeted softly, making Kageyama turn around to see who it was. "Oh. Hello," Kageyama responded quietly before turning back around and looking for that book he was searching for. It had been a while since Yamaguchi had a long conversation, and even though Kageyama wasn't promising, Yamaguchi just wanted to help as well.

"What're you looking for?" Yamaguchi asked, getting up from the desk he was at and standing beside Kageyama. Yamaguchi didn't look when Kageyama glanced over at him, instead pretending to be looking for the book. "I'll help you."

Apparently, Kageyama had a list. There were a total of 5 books on there and when Yamaguchi asked if it was all for him Kageyama just scowled. "It's for Kenma-san," Kageyama said, taking one of the books from the shelf and crossing it off the list. "He gave me this errand while he does something. So I have to do it well." Now that Kageyama said it, Yamaguchi hasn't seen Kenma properly yet either ever since he got back.

This whole time, Yamaguchi was worried about whether or not Tsukishima was going to talk to him or not. This whole time, Yamaguchi was waiting for Tsukishima and him to go back to 'normal', even though recently Yamaguchi has realized, he's not that satisfied with the 'normal' Tsukishima gave him.

"Hey, Kageyama," Yamaguchi said out loud before he knew it, giving Kageyama the second book on the list. "Yes?""Do you and Hinata have a good relationship?" Kageyama froze as he was putting back a book, side eyeing Yamaguchi. The topic looked like it was making Kageyama uncomfortable, or at least he could sense that it would be an awkward conversation, but after hearing Hinata talk all about Kageyama in a bright light he was curious what Kageyama would say. 

If what Kageyama said something similar to what Tsukishima would say then Yamaguchi wouldn't give up.

"What would you say is a 'good relationship?" Kageyama asked and even though it was a personal, subjective question, Yamaguchi couldn't answer right away. Because he didn't know.

Maybe a few months ago he would call his relationship with Tsukishima a 'good' one. Probably even now if Kageyama wasn't such a serious person he would've said it with minimal hesitation. Yamaguchi believed his relationship with Tsukishima was a 'good' one - but now he wasn't sure.

"To me a good relationship involves Hinata. If it's not Hinata then I become difficult and uneasy. So I think I could say my relationship with Hinata is good."

Yamaguchi wasn't sure how to respond to such words without sounding nosy, but he couldn't help it. He was so curious, and even though it wasn't something Hinata would say, Tsukishima surely wouldn't say something like that either.  
And that was making his heart beat faster.

"Well, can you give me something specific?" Yamaguchi tried asking next. "Like, reference? What is it that makes you and Hinata's relationship good? What does he do?" Kageyama looked like he was thinking about him, pursing his lips as he put the 3 books down, no longer searching intensely like he was just a few minutes ago. Was Kageyama thinking hard because it was difficult to think of good things Hinata does?   
Or maybe because there was too many.

"He never makes my heart waver," Kageyama said with a firm nod, taking the books back and going back to looking for the other two. "Whenever I think about him or see him, I can't help but feel better. So I would say what makes my relationship with Hinata good is that I can rely on him," Kageyama looked back at Yamaguchi and a weird, small, soft smile that Yamaguchi's never seen before was playing on his lips. A smile Hinata has only ever described but Yamaguchi found himself not being able to imagine.

"No matter what."

Yamaguchi didn't mind giving up sometimes, but this one time, he found it near impossible.

Asahi's garden was Yamaguchi's second favourite place in Hogwarts. If Asahi was here right now he wouldn't hesitate letting Yamaguchi in of course, so naturally, Yamaguchi went. Just to calm his mind, literally smell the roses.

"Oh!" Yamaguchi gasped when he saw someone else already there that was watering the plants, his can stopping and lifting it upright to turn and look at Yamaguchi. "U-Ushijima-san?"

He should've known from before that Ushijima might have been in the garden to take care of all the plants and flowers. And from how lush and flourished the garden looked, it looked like he was doing a very good job.

"Hello," Ushijima greeted with a short nod, making Yamaguchi respond with a shaky smile. "Are you here to see the flowers as well? They are not in full bloom yet, I have to say." Ushijima said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

Now, Yamaguchi wasn't friends with Ushijima or anything. He wasn't scared of him either however, because of how him and Asahi got along. How could Yamaguchi be scared of someone who grew little dandelions anyway?

"Yes. Is it okay if I join you?" Yamaguchi asked softly, smiling a bit when Ushijima nodded and moved to the side for Yamaguchi to stand beside him. Yamaguchi went over, standing next to Ushijima and watching him use the muggle invention to water the plants, and even though Yamaguchi was curious as to how it worked, he didn't ask to try it out.

"You came back," Ushijima said softly, startling Yamaguchi a bit because he hasn't really had a conversation with him before. "How was Tendou doing while you were away?"

That was when Yamaguchi understood that Ushijima wasn't interested in him. And frankly, he was a little shocked that it was Tendou. Because if he remembered Tendou correctly, and Tendou was quite fresh in Yamaguchi's mind, he wasn't what Yamaguchi thought Ushijima would care about. So careless in his words, forgoing and in all, obnoxious, if Yamaguchi took a good look at Ushijima he would have guessed maybe someone like Kiyoko?

"Tendou? He's..." Yamaguchi couldn't help but have flashbacks of him calling Hinata 'Shrimp-chan' or cornering Yamaguchi in the bathroom after finding out his parents were Aurors. Uncomfortable and touchy.

"Tendou's fine." 

It wasn't a complete lie, in Yamaguchi's defence. "That's good," Ushijima grunted with a nod, but Yamaguchi couldn't tell if that meant he was happy or not. "Thank you for telling me." Yamaguchi wasn't able to muster up the courage to say 'you're welcome'.

There was silence between the two of them for a while, just staring at the beautiful flowers that either Ushijima or Asahi planted in the soil, the vibrant colours screaming in Yamaguchi's face. Nature was so weird. To Yamaguchi, anyway. So dependent and so needy, so spoiled though it was only because humans made them spoiled. If a flower was just left where it belonged, then people wouldn't have to worry about maintaining them all the time.   
But who was Yamaguchi to say that?

"If Tendou is fine then I thank you," Ushijima said softly, bowing to Yamaguchi slightly before turning back to the plants. "My heart can settle down now."

Yamaguchi was starting wonder if a settled heart was normal. If the person you loved was calmed down and protected, your heart would be settled. Even if the world was burning down, as long as the person you loved was safe, your heart would be settled.

Even if Tsukishima was beside Yamaguchi though, his heart was heavy.

"Ushijima-san," Yamaguchi said suddenly, taking both of them by surprise. "How did you fall in love with Tendou-san?" It was a bit of a personal question, however it was itching Yamaguchi's curiosity. It seemed like all the couples around him were just naturally opposites despite him believing that opposite personalities would clash and not go well.

"Well," Ushijima said lowly, bringing his fingers up to his chin and furrowing his eyebrows down. "I think it was a normal transition. First, Tendou was my friend. The more I talked to him, the more I came to love him. So I think it is safe to say that I fell in love with Tendou in a standard way."

Yamaguchi bit the inside of his cheek, not finding that helpful at all. Because with Tsukishima, there was always a force that pushed them together. There was never a choice to become friends, in fact Tsukishima has blatantly ignored him in the past. It was just Yamaguchi following him around like some sort of lost puppy, like a pet Tsukishima was trying to get rid of, and all this time Yamaguchi has called that 'love'.

"If you are asking in terms of what it was that made me fall in love with Tendou," there was a weird smile on Ushijima's that Yamaguchi has never seen before, nor thought was possible. Faint and distant, like the smile was reserved for someone else and it was illegal for Yamaguchi to see yet he couldn't look away. Because the look Ushijima was giving was so warm, so loving, and if Tsukishima could look at him like that, at least once, then maybe Yamaguchi's heart could settle too.

"I fell in love with Tendou's smile."

Even though the Slytherin Tower was as terrifying as it was earlier, Yamaguchi felt more brave than earlier as well. He wanted to face Tsukishima head on, wanted to ask him firm questions.  
He couldn't just sit back and think that everything would go his way all the time.

So Yamaguchi went in the Slytherin Tower as a few Slytherins left, taking the opportunity to just step in. No one stopped him, and thinking it was because of his determined face gave Yamaguchi more confidence.

"Eh, 's tha' 'ufflepuff from before," one of the twins chuckled as they passed by Yamaguchi. "Lookin' for glasses?"

Yamaguchi's head perked up when they mentioned Tsukishima, nodding his head. "Can you tell me where he is?" Yamaguchi asked enthusiastically, pushing his face in front of the both of them and not letting them leave. "Is he in his room?" The twins looked at each other then back at Yamaguchi before giving a simultaneous shrug. "Dunno." The silver haired one said, "you can try," the blond added.

It wasn't much help but Yamaguchi was just glad he was able to pass through, going up the stairs and trying to avoid any useless contact with anyone else. The Slytherins seemed as lively as ever, not caring about the return of pure bloods because most of them were there already.

"Iwa-chan, let's go already!"  
"Wait, let me get a sweater. It's cold now."

Yamaguchi kept pushing through, not knowing if it was nervousness or actual physical closeness with everyone that was making him uncomfortable. No matter what it was, it was making him sweat.

"Where're you headin', Yahaba-kun?"  
"Gryffindor Tower. I'm getting laid tonight."

The further Yamaguchi went down the hallways the more anxious he felt. Every where he went, there was someone who was looking at him, someone wondering who he was there for, and honestly, he would've much preferred by now that the Slytherins knew who he was. Wasn't it only natural? He was with Tsukishima all the time so why were they so confused when they saw him there?

"Shirabu, hurry up! We're gonna miss the-oh!" Goshiki was startled when he saw a Hufflepuff at the front of his dorm's door, looking down at him with wide eyes. "Can I help you?"

Yamaguchi's face went red when it looked like this was Yamaguchi's first time here. Was Yamaguchi that unmemorable that Goshiki has forgotten catching him and Tsukishima making out on the bed various times? Or was he just ignorant?

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Shirabu came out, putting a jacket on and doing the same thing to Yamaguchi as Goshiki did. "What're you here for?" Yamaguchi could feel the hear rising up in the back of his neck as he pushed between the both of them, huffing as he went in and seeing Tsukishima on the bed reading a book like the world was fine. If a meteor shattered the Earth in a million pieces, Tsukishima would probably still act like this.

"Yamaguchi," Tsukishima said stiffly, putting his book down. "Did you need something?"

Yamaguchi didn't do it often, but he scoffed. "Is that all you can say?" He meant to think it but it turned out he said it out loud, shocking the both of them. "I don't think this is a good time to talk-""Then when?" Yamaguchi asked, feeling the momentum kicking in. Tsukishima's eyes widened, standing up and walking over to Yamaguchi, towering him. Now that Yamaguchi thought about it, all the times Tsukishima did it was probably to intimidate him.

"When is a good time we can talk? Because everyone knows I'll wait for you."

Tsukishima's eyes narrowed down at Yamaguchi, like he was trying to figure out where this was coming from, but if Tsukishima was as smart as everyone says then it shouldn't take too long.

"Yamaguchi," Tsukishima said slowly with a deep sigh. "The world is crazy right now. We don't have time for...relationship problems." Yamaguchi scoffed again, craning his neck as he looked up, their faces inches away from each other.

"You always find an excuse to avoid me." Instead of bursting in anger, Yamaguchi let it out slowly, like a river flowing, his voice shaky because honestly, he hated this. He didn't want to get mad at Tsukishima or upset him in any way. But the more he let this go on the less likely their relationship would go on. And those chances weren't ones Yamaguchi was willing to take with what was already a less than satisfactory situation anyway.

"What are you saying?" Tsukishima cocked his head to the side. "Do I not give you the attention you want? I do the things you want-""No, no, that's not what I'm-" Yamaguchi let out a strangled groan, covering his mouth so he didn't shout.

"No. No, I don't want you to just kiss me and go on dates with me. I want you to-to-" Yamaguchi sputtered out, feeling dumb for losing his words but he was so overwhelmed that they just jumbled into nonsense.

"I want you to love me."

Yamaguchi's eyes watered as he looked up at Tsukishima, feeling more dejected when he watched Tsukishima's face fall, as if that option was never one in the first place. And now, Yamaguchi felt like he could actually read Tsukishima's mind.

Yamaguchi wasn't a weak wizard, but it was debatable to say he was a weak person. At least, he was weak when it came to Tsukishima.

_Tadashi!!_

_How's Hogwarts now? You returned a few days ago so you might get this letter late, but that's fine, it's no rush. I don't know if you can even reply though, to be honest. Even this letter now, I don't know if it will be approved to be sent, but I think I can make it work. I hope, at least. I wanted to send one to Kageyama so if I end up getting this one sent tell him I'm trying! And I miss him a lot._

_Did you know Tendou-san knows nonverbal magic? I didn't know that. It was very surprising because of how he is. I heard you two got friendly before you left though, so that was why I was so curious if you knew. If you end up replying please tell me! I've been trying to get him to teach me but he's being a big butthole and not telling me anything. Says I need to learn Latin or whatever._

_I think that Minister Faiji is going through something too. He hasn't been making appearances at school anymore and from what I hear, more schools are being exposed too. Is that normal? I don't know how politics work but I think he can't just get fired. Sugawara-san said it's more complicated than that and what he's doing has a lot of 'legal ristricshions' to it but I don't know._

_I don't want to talk about politics though. Fireball was seen flying to day and I thought of you. It looked like he was thinking of you too because he kept flying around and around and around, but I'm pretty sure that's because he was a bird. Bokuto-san said that was normal._

_I know this letter is for you, but just in case, how's Kageyama? Can you sit with him during lunch please? Because I don't know if he's making friends or not and I don't want him to be lonely. I know he looks scary but that's only his outside - his inside is fluffy and warm and nothing to worry about! I think that's a good way to think about it. He's like a guard dog!_

_Also, I think I should tell you if this letter does get sent, but the muggle borns here are okay. We knew what we were getting into on the first day, so don' fight too hard for nothing. Because on our side, we're doing pretty well. Tendou-san has this plan he wants to do that involves protesting or something? I think he got that idea from Nishinoya-san though even though those two fight all the time. Maybe he doesn't remember!  
His plan also has a dragon and a unicorn involved but no one's telling me what it's for. I think it's to destroy the school. (I sure hope it is)._

_Anyway, I don't even know if you'll read this letter, but if you do I think this will make things much easier. At least you know I'm alive and well. It's not the worst situation ever, but I miss Hogwarts.  
Actually, I take it back. I want to get out of here now._

_That's all I can say now, I guess. Don't think too much about Tsukishima-kun, alright? Hang out with Kageyama!!!!_

_From,_

_Shouyou!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this ending was so sad. I know I made them the first couple to get together, but they needed a little angst, especially the way I wrote Tsukishima. It was unintentional, I wanted him to be a baby as well, but Kageyama ended up stealing that role. It's okay though because there's still a part 3 ヽ( ˘□˘ )ゝ
> 
> Some content creators I would like to recommend! :
> 
> |meimeimmi - An artist on Instagram that likes Haikyuu, especially Kagehina and I think we need more of that (there's never too much!). They does comics which I think are fun and I think they're starting to do a bit more animes as well!
> 
> |tsukkishookt - Another artist on Instagram, but I'm suggesting them specifically for this series they're doing where Yamaguchi and Hinata are androids, and I think more people need to see it ヽ( ˘∪˘ )ゝ Go check it out, they also draw other things of course, but this android series is getting me in places ...
> 
> School started for me and I realized during the livestream I can still type, so I'm probably going to have a lot more spelling and grammar errors than usual ⊂(・﹏・⊂) I'll correct them eventually when I reread the chapters, but I just want to apologize in advance.  
> Hope you guys are doing well and stress isn't coming to you easily. Thank you guys for reading this chapter and I hope to see everyone in the next!


	45. Kuroo

Date : November 19 1997

Time : 9:57 AM

Current Location : Courtyard

Status : Mission - Eh...

"In my next life, I want to be a dolphin," Bokuto let out a sigh of content, looking up at the blue sky with Kuroo, a little dark and hazy, but the weather was still decent enough to sit outside. "I wanna swim freely, not caring about a thing in the world, who my parents are. Just jumping up and down from the water over and over again and making weird sounds." For a moment, Kuroo agreed.

"And I'd still be able to enjoy sex."

Kuroo smacked Bokuto on the back of the head right when he said that, making Bokuto burst out laughing. "You fucking ruined it," Kuroo hissed, but didn't do anything beyond that as he saw Bokuto enjoying Kuroo's irritation.

"We were having a moment and you ruined it."  
"Aw, sorry. Were you being deprived of romantic moments that you needed me to fill in?"

Kuroo huffed, rolling his eyes as Bokuto teased him, but he had a feeling Bokuto was the one who needed romantic gestures done to him or else he would explode. Which would explain all the 'accidental' cuddling at night these past few weeks.

"What do you think Kenma's doing right now?"

Kuroo has thought about this several times a night, and during the hours of sleeping he would be 110% confident saying Kenma was up late either reading or playing on his Gameboy.  
Did that Gameboy even still have battery?

"What time is it?" Kuroo looked up at the sun since there was no clock or watch on him. Obviously he didn't know the exact time, but thinking about when him and Bokuto left to go to the courtyard and how long they've been sitting, he could guess.

"It's Tuesday? He has Potions first today.""Are you a stalker?" Bokuto laughed, making Kuroo hit him in the back of the head again, scowling. "I'm a good boyfriend," Kuroo defended himself. "Sometimes he doesn't wake up on time so I try to memorize his schedule to meet him at classes. It's not a big deal." Kuroo didn't want to give it away that Kenma memorized Kuroo's schedules too. Only he could see that cute side of Kenma.

"Don't lie and say you don't know Akaashi's."  
"I don't try to know it. Because if you know Kenma's then I just ask you."

Kuroo kicked Bokuto on the side of his thigh, both of them laughing together, which was really all they could do at times like this. Things were shitty, progress was slow and the world seemed like it hated change.  
But things like that were going to be like this whether Kuroo could think of a 'faster' way or not. 'Faster' wasn't even the right word for it. It was aggressive, required physically protesting, which would just support the Ministry's claims even more that muggle borns weren't 'proper wizards' or whatever.

"You think they're waiting for us?" Bokuto asked, still looking up at the sky. Now there were clouds, swirling around and it seemed that a storm was starting up. Maybe even with a bit of lightening.

"Nah," Kuroo shook his head, standing up as well since it looked like it was going to rain. In November the transition to winter was evident. The leaves were all off the trees, withering and crunchy. No snow yet, but the cold breeze was enough to make it feel like Christmas, and not to mention how gloomy the days have been so far. November wasn't winter, but Kuroo felt it coming up, strongest than any other seasons.

"They're probably working on something on their end too."

Food was still trash though Kuroo found himself getting used to it. His bowl of rice at least wasn't uncooked like the meat, but he did have to separate the raw slice from the rice quickly when he got it so that he didn't catch something.

"KurooKuroo," Tendou greeted excitedly as he sat in front of Kuroo and Bokuto at their table (there was no longer 'Gryffindor or Slytherin'. It was just 'table'). "Wanna play a game tonight? SugaSuga and I are gonna have some fun in the courtyard. Past curfew of course," Tendou said with a grin, making Kuroo believe that there was more than 'playing a game'.

"After everyone's fallen asleep."  
"Ugh, what a dad," Tendou groaned, rolling his eyes as he plopped down at the table, Sugawara following closely after. "You should let them take care of themselves. You're not that much older, you know?"

Kuroo did know this. He's been told many times that he didn't have to act so 'adultly' all the time because it wasn't like he was told to be in charge of them. However, Kuroo still felt a bit of responsibility over them as long as they were younger, be it one year or five. There was something about their comfort that Kuroo wanted to make sure they had so they never had to go through something he did, trying to pick a side of discomfort or hardships. If the whole world could just be a little easier, even by a single percentage, perhaps the weight wouldn't be so hard on him.

"If they can fall asleep, I'll join you," Kuroo said again, not falling for Tendou's weird persistence. Perhaps that was how he got Ushijima to join him in all of his antics and weird pranks.

"Seriously," Tendou huffed, making Sugawara chuckle beside him. "Or," Sugawara said with a small smirk on his face. "You should ask them to join us."

Both Bokuto and Kuroo spit on the food they were chewing, choking and coughing loudly. Bokuto held onto Kuroo's neck while Kuroo held onto Bokuto's back, helping each other by patting lightly as they tried to spit out the food. Kuroo was successful, but Bokuto ended up swallowing it.

"H-How could you suggest that?" Kuroo exclaimed loudly, shaking his head. "No way are they joining us! It's too dangerous after curfew. I don't want any of them in trouble." By the look on Sugawara's face, Kuroo could've guessed he felt the same way. Even though it was a bit much, Kuroo didn't believe that the juniors should be involved in Tendou's weird plans until Kuroo tested it out and made sure no one was at risk, whether it be a risk of getting caught or being in danger.

"You dote on them too much. It's making them spoiled."  
"It's building character," Kuroo retorted Sugawara's statement, pointing his chopsticks at him. "You should be as uptight as me right now. Daichi- _kun_ wouldn't be too happy with you right now if he saw you."  
"Daichi-kun isn't here though, so the two situations are completely different, therefore so am I," Sugawara giggled when he saw Kuroo scowling, which made Kuroo even more frustrated.

"Oh come on, Kuroo!" Bokuto tried, hitting Kuroo on the back, hard enough to make him 'oomph'. "A little sneaking out never hurt anyone.""Do you three not remember Halloween?" Kuroo hissed, glaring at all of them. "That was a shit show. And that included all of us!""Might I remind," Tendou chimed in, "that it wasn't any of us who blew up the Tower. In fact, I didn't even touch anyone. And I'm the one you're worried about, right?"

Tendou was right in terms of Kuroo worrying the most about what Tendou was going to do. 

"KurooKuroo is a wuss, that's why," Tendou hummed in a mocking tone, sticking his chin out and turning away. "You're not a responsible adult. You're just a scaredy cat." Kuroo hated how Bokuto and Sugawara laughed along with it.

"I'm not a wuss," Kuroo huffed, annoyed at the immaturity between them. But the way he was reacting was a bit immature too, wasn't it? "Yes you are," Tendou hummed, crossing his arms and nodding firmly.

"The biggest wuss I know."  
"I'm _not_ ," Kuroo insisted, hissing at Tendou now because it was getting annoying. Kuroo wasn't a wuss! He was courageous and brave - that's why he was in freaking Gryffindor for crying out loud. Who was Tendou to say he was a wuss?

"Sorry, I don't speak wuss," Tendou sang out, picking at his food and sticking his tongue out at Kuroo. "You're probably wuss, with like, a capital 'w'," Tendou said with a cheeky smile. "Wuss."  
"I'm not!" Kuroo finally yelled, the other students in the cafeteria looking over to see what all the commotion was about but Kuroo just ignored them. "I'll come with you tonight then! I'm not a wuss."

Tendou smirked and nodded his head, shrugging. "If you say so. Let's see if you actually come tonight first."

Kuroo realized in that moment, even though he felt like he won, he knew he lost to Tendou.

"It's cold."  
"Don't state the obvious if you're just going to be stupid."

Kuroo and Bokuto walked down the hallways, turning around every once in a while, transforming into their animagus form every so often and hiding whenever a Ministry supervisor passed by before quickly getting up and walking again. Sneaking out wasn't the hard part though - Kuroo still didn't know what Tendou was up to and that was making him more anxious than necessary.

"If you'd just listen to me and stay inside then we wouldn't have to do this," Kuroo huffed, stuffing his pockets in his sweater as the two walked side by side, going out to the courtyard. Unsurprisingly, Tendou and Sugawara were already there.

"Ah! The wuss came!"  
"I'm not a wuss!" Now that there were no real adults around, Kuroo took the time to kick Tendou right on his back, making the Slytherin yelp in shock and glare at Kuroo. "The fuck was that for?"  
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your fragile body? Would you like me to give you a massage? Should I make you a bubble bath while I'm at it?" Kuroo kept going on sarcastically, Bokuto and Sugawara snickering in the back but Tendou and Kuroo were focused on each other.

"Yes to all of them," Tendou pouted, turning away when Kuroo rolled his eyes. "That was so uncalled for.""So was this! What are we even doing out here?" Kuroo asked, motioning to all of them just standing outside the courtyard as they did nothing. A waste of Kuroo's time that he could be using to sleep so tomorrow wouldn't be as shitty as compared to when he'd be sleep deprived.

"Watch now, wuss-""I'm not a wuss!""-as I show you why I have called you out here." Tendou took a wand out, to which Kuroo's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Everyone's wand got confiscated weeks ago!

"How did you-""If you let me do my thing I'll answer every question on your little pretty head," Tendou patted the top of Kuroo's lightly, making Kuroo scowl but Tendou didn't seem to care or react. "I can get my wand back. And because I'm so nice," Tendou fished around in his pocket, taking two more wands out, one that Kuroo was more than familiar with.

"My wand!"

Bokuto jumped at Tendou excitedly as he took it back, holding it to his chest as if it were a prized treasure, and honestly it was. Your wand was apart of you, covered your identity as a wizard. Kuroo took his as well and all of a sudden he felt a lot lighter holding it.

"No 'thank you'?" Tendou scoffed making Kuroo lightly punch his jaw. "How'd you get it? You didn't drug the Minister or anything, did you?""Oh, if only it were that easy," Tendou sighed, resting a hand on his forehead.

"It was difficult, yes, but I did it! I did it, me, myself and I. Despite the hardships, the pain, the agony, I was able to-""Tendou can do nonverbal magic," Sugawara cut Tendou off with a smile. "He was able to get them like that."

Kuroo's jaw dropped when Sugawara mentioned it, feeling like this was big news. Powerful wizards were able to do nonverbal magic even though it was still a little difficult, so for Tendou to be able to do it before even becoming an adult was very impressive and, not to offend Tendou, insane.  
For some reason though, Bokuto didn't look surprised. 

"Did you know?" Bokuto looked up from admiring his wand before nodding his head making Kuroo even more shocked. "How?" Bokuto was equally as startled, taking a step back.   
"Eh? Whenever he would Apparate he wouldn't say a word!" Bokuto insisted, as if it were obvious. "I thought we all knew! But I didn't think he could get our wands back," Bokuto said with a satisfied sigh, kissing his wand over and over again. "I will never let you go, as long as I live. Unless I get a newer one though, then I'll have to burn you and stuff."

Kuroo must have been so preoccupied with having to take care of literally everyone else that he didn't have the time to notice Tendou doing nonverbal magic. It was something Kuroo wanted to learn so badly and now that he knew Tendou could do it it gave him even more motivation to learn too.

"How'd you learn?" Kuroo asked, finding it a bit suspicious that someone like Tendou who didn't take school that seriously and probably wanted to be a leech as a career after Hogwarts, would know something as powerful as nonverbal magic. Tendou just gave Kuroo that weird smile where his eyes would squint up and even his hair would fall back, as if it knew Tendou was hiding something so it had to hide itself too.

"When we become best friends, I'll share my secrets with you, KurooKuroo. But for now," Tendou took his wand out as well as Sugawara, "I think we should focus on the task at hand."

Kuroo didn't know what 'task at hand meant' to Tendou, and he was a little too scared to ask as they circled around the school. For as long as they walked, Kuroo was beginning to think the school was a lot bigger than he thought.  
Not big, but his thighs hurt as they went up hill to the opposite end of the building.

"That's the Minister's office," Tendou said, pointing his wand to one of the parts of the building that stuck out, obviously representing a room. For a moment, Kuroo wasn't sure what Tendou was doing until for a split second, as a surge of light came out of the wand, Kuroo was quick to do the math.

Out of instinct, he pushed Tendou down, causing him to miss and instead hit a nearby tree. And good thing Kuroo stopped him because the tree caught on fire.

"What're you doing?" Kuroo hissed, kicking Tendou on his stomach. "You could've killed the Minister!""Wasn't that the plan?" Tendou asked in genuine confusion which made Kuroo worry more than anything else.

"Isn't it better if he's dead anyway? The world won't miss him."

Kuroo couldn't say anything for a minute because it was going too fast for him to process. Maybe on a technical level, Tendou was right. People like the Minister were just toxic and hurt people for no reason. They looked down on muggle borns for something they couldn't control, simply because of the way they were born, which was a shitty thing for any person to do.

But the Minister was still a _person._

"Don't say that," Kuroo tried laughing it out but Tendou looked dead serious. Even Sugawara and Bokuto looked hesitant to speak up, perhaps because Kuroo and Tendou were two people they preferred not to mess with.

"What? You're saying you like the Minister?"  
"No! I never said that!" Kuroo denied quickly, not wanting Tendou to mix his words up. "But do you really want to risk getting sent to Azkaban just because you don't like one person?"

Tendou scoffed, bringing himself up from the ground and dusting his clothes off. If Kuroo noticed before, Tendou had been wearing the same outfit for a week now. "I'm going to Azkaban anyway. Not a big deal if I actually do something for it."  
"You know I'm joking every time I say something like that," Kuroo said back, not liking how Tendou was all of a sudden getting solemn and dark. "Ushijima has been rubbing off on you, hasn't he?"

Why wasn't Tendou laughing? He wasn't _actually_ going to get sent to Azkaban. Sure, Kuroo joked about it a bunch, and sure he said that with Tendou's antics he'd eventually get caught and given a proper penalty.

But Kuroo never meant it.

"If anything, Bokuto and I are going to get sent," Kuroo tried again, not wanting this gloomy atmosphere around them. "We illegally registered as animagus. I think we have a bigger chance than you'll have. And I don't even know if that can get you sent to Azkaban!"

Kuroo and Bokuto admitted their little Transfiguration trick when they thought of a new and improved way to send letters - Bokuto being their owl. Not a bad idea, and even though they were risking getting caught it was the perfect option for them for now. Especially since no letters were getting approved, not proper ones anyway. The only thing that got Bokuto annoyed was that he couldn't change back into his human form even though he could see the students. And apparently Bokuto has yet to see Akaashi also.

"Was this actually your plan?" Kuroo asked in disbelief, putting his hands on his hips and narrowing his eyes at Tendou. "Killing the Minister?""Well, calmly talking to him didn't work!" Tendou insisted, stepping forward so he was towering over Kuroo but Kuroo didn't get intimidated so easily.

"Still! There's better ways to solve this than killing a person."  
"He's barely a person," Tendou hissed, pointing his wand back to the building but keeping his eyes on Kuroo. "If he had a conscious he wouldn't send a bunch of children and make them suffer for nothing! People like him don't deserve to know the beauty of life."  
"You won't know the beauty of life either if you kill a man and get sent away forever!" They were screaming at each other at this point, Kuroo grabbing Tendou's wrist aggressively and pulling it away but Tendou also didn't budge.

"Now, now," Sugawara went behind Kuroo while Bokuto behind Tendou, both trying to calmly pull them away from each other. "Let's discuss this in a nice way.""Don't tell that to me!" Kuroo nodded his head over to Tendou. "He's the one who wants to kill a man!"

Tendou scowled, Bokuto taking his wand, apparently not noticing, pointing his finger instead at Kuroo. "Do _you_ have a better idea, Mr. So-Wise-Adult?" Tendou retorted back, making Kuroo freeze in Sugawara's arms.

He didn't, short answer. He didn't know what to do. Actually, his plan was just to wait it out until things went back to close to normal, wait till the school year was over and things would move on like it never happened, and maybe get through this as minimal discomfort as possible.

"Even if we make it to the end of the year, then what? Things don't change that easily!" Tendou yelled, Bokuto having to shush him but Tendou's face was turning red. Even Kuroo could see it in the dark they were in. "If no one does anything then nothing happens! No change, nothing. And we're all going to go home to parents who don't know what to do because they don't know anything about this world. Is that what you want, Kuroo? Or is because your muggle mom is out of your life and your living pitifully that you can handle this?"

Kuroo was listening well until Tendou's last comment, stepping forward and taking Tendou by the collar, Sugawara barely holding him back. "I want change to happen too, you fucking ass." Kuroo hated how Tendou finally laughed.

"However," Kuroo let out a soft exhale, his voice low, almost a whisper as he looked at Tendou's amused eyes. What would happen if he punched that smug look off his face. "This problem is bigger than any of us. Even if we did something, it won't make a difference. We can only focus on ourselves right now and make sure we're doing okay. You think Asahi's sister is trying to start a rebellion? What about Lev, you think he's starting something up and wanting to murder the Minister? Or even Ushijima? You think _he's_ doing something? Well, guess what - he's not!"   
Kuroo should've known he hit a nerve when mentioning Ushijima.

"Ah," Tendou laughed bitterly, pushing Kuroo off of him. "So that's how it is."

Without saying anything else, Tendou started walking off, back towards the school, not taking his wand back from Bokuto. "Where're you going?" Kuroo called out after Tendou but Tendou just waved his hand at him, adding the middle finger right after. The three of them just watched his back as Tendou's figure disappeared from them, down to the school and into the darkness.

"Was the Minister even in his office?"  
"No," Sugawara answered slowly, blinking at Bokuto then eyeing Kuroo. "He isn't. He never is these days."

Of course, going back to the rooms was uncomfortable for everyone. Tendou was already laying down on the ground when they got there, not sleeping but Kuroo didn't try talking to him. Sugawara and Bokuto went to their own ends of the room, doing their best not to step on anyone. As Sugawara went to take his place next to Tendou, Kuroo stopped him, telling him quietly that he wanted to switch for the night. All Sugawara did was nod, going off to Kuroo's spot next to Bokuto without asking any questions.

Kuroo laid down, facing Tendou's back. He could tell from the stiff breathing that Tendou was in fact still awake, but Kuroo didn't say anything for a good few minutes before turning to lay on his back, facing up, his eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

"I wasn't going to kill him," Tendou whispered, rubbing his eyes before turning to look at Kuroo. "I was just messing around.""It wasn't funny though," Kuroo retorted back quietly, not wanting anyone to wake up. In the position Kuroo was in now, Terushima was right beside him, Semi's feet at his head and his own hitting a wall since he was too tall to crouch up into a ball. If Kuroo moved in his sleep the next morning he would be sprawled up in Tendou's arms.

"You went too far talking about Wakatoshi." At this, Kuroo couldn't say much. "I know," he whispered softly. "I'm sorry for saying that. He's probably doing all he can right now." Which, Kuroo hated to admit, he said half heartedly. And by the way Tendou scrunched his face up he probably heard it in Kuroo's voice too.

"I just needed to make something happen," Tendou said with a soft sigh. "Wanted to make a distraction. A big one too, something that has to get Hogwarts involved.""And that had to be murder?" It wasn't a joke, but the two of them ended up chuckling to themselves.

"I guess? I couldn't think of something up in time," Tendou admitted, rolling to his side so he was fully facing Kuroo now and Kuroo didn't mind. "So that was what you were thinking? Creating a distraction?"  
"Not a distraction," Tendou shook his head slowly. "I needed attention. If there were to be a big, harmful even here, a huge explosion or something, then Hogwarts would have to come get us. Even if some of us got hurt, that would just increase the urgency. I wouldn't have actually killed anyone. I'm not that much of a monster." Kuroo's mouth twitched, not necessarily liking how Tendou phrased it. He never thought Tendou was a monster.

"But if you were to have done that you would've gotten in trouble. Maybe even more since you targeted the Minister's office specifically. You could've been expelled - or worse!" Kuroo thought he was laying out some solid reasons why Tendou shouldn't have blasted the Minister's office. He thought it was a reasonable explanation, but Tendou still looked like he didn't agree for some reason.

"Even if I got in trouble it would've been fine," Tendou covered his face with his arms, almost like he was embarrassed. "I-I just wanted all of you guys to get home. I didn't like seeing you suffer."

Now that was surprising to Kuroo. It wasn't like Tendou wasn't a nice person, although it wouldn't be the first word he would use to describe him either. He gave Sugawara a tough time living just a year ago. And he was quite mischievous, teased people like Nishinoya a lot, was a typical Slytherin - Kuroo wasn't even sure if Tendou was well off or not actually now that he thought about it.   
Tendou's wasn't _not_ nice. But it wasn't like he was either.

"You would have risked your sanity for all of us?"

Now that Kuroo said it out loud, sure, maybe Tendou was a bit nice. Sacrificing his own status at Hogwarts, risking a time in Azkaban, just for everyone to go home - it seemed like a bit much.

"If I can compare how you guys have been treated your whole lives to what I've been living till now, then maybe it isn't so bad," Tendou said with a soft smile. Before Kuroo could say something about how Tendou was a muggle born too, he got cut off.

"I've been pretending to be a pure blood this whole time. I filled out every document and file as a pure blood, acting like I had nothing to worry about. I would hide my family problems as much as possible, but I knew it would bite me back in the ass one day." Tendou let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. "I can't believe I thought that much would work. I knew I would eventually get sent to Azkaban one day, but I thought it would be okay if I got sent at least doing something right, even if the Ministry didn't see it that way. I would know."

Kuroo didn't totally understand what Tendou was saying. Even though he was adding light-hearted comments and chuckles, he's never heard Tendou so serious in his life. What did he mean by he would 'eventually get sent to Azkaban'? Did Tendou do something? Did he have a past criminal record Kuroo didn't know about? He wanted to ask so badly, but the questions were just piling up.

"I'm sure whatever it is you did, it's not sever enough for you to get sent to Azkaban, Tendou," Kuroo said, trying to reassure him but Kuroo actually wasn't quite sure himself because he still didn't _know_. If Tendou told him, maybe the talk right now would be entirely different.

"You don't deserve to get sent there."

At this, for some reason, Tendou's head snapped out of his arms, staring at Kuroo like he just said something revolutionary. Kuroo didn't though, he just said the obvious. Whatever Tendou did, if he thought doing the 'right thing' to get him sent for a valid reason was what he needed to do, then whatever it was Tendou did couldn't be that bad. Tendou let out a dry laugh, shaking his head.

"You're right, KurooKuroo," Kuroo could've sworn his voice was shaking when he said it. "I don't."

The next morning was as gloomy as the previous day. Kuroo, Tendou, Sugawara and Bokuto all stayed silent about the night before, just continuing on with their day. Everyone got changed, getting their books and school supplies ready for their classes, which no one was taking seriously anymore. Except Kuroo, who felt that maybe if he worked a little harder, he could at least get something out of this experience.

"You guys had quite a pillow talk last night?" Sugawara chuckled as they walked together to their class, now all the 6th years stuffed into a class of over 70 students. The four of them walked together down the cramped up hallways, letting the juniors go first if they needed to.

"Guys!" A voice called out behind them, the four of them turning to see Asahi squeezing through the students as he tried to get to them faster. The four of them waited, watching as Asahi would pathetically apologize to several peers as he bumped them or accidentally hit them with his bag, letting out a nervous laugh as he unintentionally elbowed someone in the head - it wasn't his fault he was so tall!

"Ah. If I had his face and body I would make sure no one fucks with me," Bokuto said with an envious sigh, all of them crossing their arms as Asahi finally made it up to them, letting out a nervous laugh and waving.

"Sorry. I had to help Osahi with her hair. I'm here now though!" Who could get mad at an innocent face like Asahi's? It was near impossible, especially when he scratched the back of his neck so timidly.  
Kuroo would always be fooled by Asahi's appearance, but the day Asahi hit someone forcefully, he was pretty sure the world would blow up.

"What class do we have first?" Tendou asked with a big yawn, his eyes watering a bit as well. "I can't remember.""I think it's supposed to be potions," Sugawara said with a soft hum, looking out a passing window. "But I've been practising my origami! I think I can make a paper Tendou one day."

Kuroo laughed, the five of them now at the front of the classroom. It was crowded with all the 6th years in total, all the muggle borns in Hogwarts that were the same age as Kuroo, boys and girls from every house.

Even though the classroom was full, it wasn't as many people as he thought originally.

"Are we sure every muggle born came as a student?" Kuroo asked out loud, looking around the classroom. He really didn't know, he just assumed that at least half the school was muggle born or at least half. It seemed like there was barely a quarter of the school here. 

"I thought that way too," Sugawara remarked, sitting down at his desk in the back with everyone else (even though Asahi protested and insisted they should sit at the front, Tendou was a very persuasive person).

"What should I make this time? A giraffe?"  
"Ooh, make me a lion!" Sugawara made a face at the suggestion. "I think that's too hard for me still.." Kuroo watched, rubbing his eyes as Tendou and Sugawara started playing around with paper, Bokuto falling back asleep on the desk and just at all the students in the classroom. No uniforms, no professor, no real structure, just a bunch of students fooling around.

Kuroo couldn't remember well, but were all muggle schools like this?

"Hey, you still have your...?" Tendou nudged Kuroo's calf with his foot, motioning to Kuroo's pocket where Kuroo kept his wand. Kuroo nodded, planning to keep it with him from now on, and Bokuto as well who had it in his sleeve.

"You have something you want to do with it?" Tendou asked suddenly, pushing his chair next to Kuroo's and leaning his face towards his. It made Kuroo lean back, but Tendou just leaned even more forward. "Since you don't like what I do with mine.""God, you're so over dramatic," Kuroo rolled his eyes, playfully pushing Tendou on the shoulder. "I'm over it now. Don't be such a whiney baby."

Tendou laughed this time, moving away from Kuroo's desk and socializing once again like how Tendou did. Kuroo couldn't remember a time when Tendou was quiet, but then again he never really saw Tendou talking until recently.

"AH!"

There was a crash and a _boom_ from outside, everyone in the classroom rushing to the window to see what happened. It was on their side of the school, smoke and fog airing all around and covering the windows. Kuroo wasn't sure who shouted, but he was frantically looking out, trying to see who it was because even though he knew he wasn't there, it wasn't impossible that it was Kenma.

He wished though, despite the selfishness in that thought.

"What happened?" Asahi asked in panic, Bokuto also waking up and looking out the window as well, everyone's eyes wide. "I think someone's spell went wrong.""Or a potion," Tendou guessed as well, but his face was unsettlingly excited. 

Now that Kuroo was just looking at a blob of smog, his attention went elsewhere, and coincidentally, Sugawara and Tendou were whispering to each other. Kuroo raised an eyebrow, looking down to see Tendou's wand out and in his hand.  
All of a sudden, Kuroo's eyes narrowed.

"Tendou," Kuroo went up to them, taking Tendou's wrist that had his wand in it, Tendou looking up and grinning innocently. "You didn't." For a minute, Tendou looked at Kuroo dumbfounded, confused then looked down where Kuroo was looking.

"Oh come on," Tendou laughed, putting his wand back in his pocket. "You don't actually think-""I don't know, Tendou. You're not looking that innocent right now," Kuroo said back, making Tendou shrink in his spot even though he was towering over Kuroo.

"I can't believe you actually went on and did it! You could've given a warning."  
"It wasn't me! I was talking to you the whole time, wasn't I?" Tendou said in defence, putting his hands in the air and backing away. "Trust me, if it was me then I would be much more proud."  
"Don't joke around with me, Tendou!" Kuroo's voice suddenly rose in frustration. 

"Tetsurou!" Bokuto called out, getting Kuroo's attention right away because Bokuto rarely called him by his first name so it was a bit shocking. "Yo, a bunch of them are down there! We need to go!"

Kuroo's eyes widened, looking down from the window to see Hinata and Lev coming out from the clearing fog, along with a bunch of other 4th years that continued to come out of the smoke.   
"Shit," Kuroo cursed, making his way out of the classroom, Bokuto following him and Asahi even. Sugawara and Tendou joined in closely so by the time the five of them were at the front.

"Hinata!" Kuroo called out loudly, stepping into the smoke and covering his mouth and nose with the collar of his shirt because he didn't know what they were inhaling. "Hinata?!"  
"Kuroo-san!" Hinata yelled back and before he knew it, Kuroo was could see a little ball of orange fluff running towards him. He stuck his arm out, Hinata taking it right away and pushing himself on Kuroo.

"Ack-" Sugawara beside him caught Kogane with his arms, taking him back to the building while Asahi handled Lev (if it wasn't such a serious situation, Kuroo would've laughed).

"What happened?"  
"I don't know," Hinata groaned, stepping off to the side and coughing loudly into his fist. "We were just messing around and then," Hinata groaned, coughing harder. "Something blew up."

Kuroo's eyes went over to Tendou, who was helping out another 4th year back into the building. He was looking really suspicious right about now.

"You don't know?" Kuroo asked again, Hinata shaking his head. "I was too busy talking to Lev to notice," Hinata admitted shortly after. "You win." Hinata added with a dejected look on his face, his skin covered in marks of grey and black.

"What?" Kuroo asked confusedly, making Hinata finally look up, pouting like a child.

"I have to wash Kageyama's sweater now."

_Tetsurou-kun,_

_Guess what? I was able to pay half the debt today officially! Exciting, right? I treated myself with a little drink by myself. When you get old enough to drink hopefully I've paid everything off and we can drink together! That would be fun, wouldn't it?_

_I got your letter earlier so I started writing as quickly as I could. Your owl isn't leaving at all and I think he's waiting for a reply. Did you train him to do that? It's pretty cool, but a little creepy. He won't stop staring at me and I think he's trying to fly in._

_I read all about what you wrote and I have to say, I'm not that surprised, but still disappointed. That school is not a place I want my son to be and I do plan on taking myself back to the wizarding world right after I finish this letter. I just wanted to update you though and alert you that I want to come over and do something about it. There needs to be an actual adult there right now that will do the right thing._

_You mentioned headmaster Akaashi, and to be honest I'm not that surprised about that either. He's a good leader and a good headmaster, but if I were to think back to before he got promoted, he was a bit of a people pleaser. Perhaps he really didn't know what was happening, so I wouldn't act against him just yet. Maybe I'll make my way to Hogwarts first before finding you - I still don't know where you are._

_I did get a letter at the beginning of the year that you were transferring, but from the description it seemed like a good idea, I guess. I'm sorry I signed it for you, but I think that's a discussion to have when we see each other face to face again._

_How are you sending the letters though? Your owl is illegal or something? I don't mind handling angry adults but to handle police authority is a bit different - you're not smuggling in illegal pets, are you? We'd need a serious talk if you were..._

_God, I feel stupid. You were there this whole time...I promise though, I'll help you from now on and in any way I can. Even though I can't offer a lot in items or funds, I can offer moral support at least. And from an adult's perspective, I think your headmaster as well needs voting age people present. How is Kenma-kun doing in this? I guess he's still at Hogwarts though, so it might be tough to say, right? I'm sure he's doing his best to help too though._

_How about Koutarou-kun? I'm assuming he's with you as well. This might sound insane and absurd, but now that I'm looking at the owl properly it looks a lot like Koutarou-kun. I think it's the feather colour scheme though. The eyes too a bit..._

_Anyway, after writing this I'm probably on my way to the wizarding world and heading to the Ministry of Magic building. I'm sure I'll bump into a lot of your classmate's parents. Maybe they'll be up to something too, don't you think?_

_Stay strong until then, Tetsurou-kun. I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon._

_Lots of love,_

_Dad_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Online classes SUCK and I'm paying tuition for walking around my room and absently listening to a prof who won't even remember my name...
> 
> Creator recs again! :
> 
> |Something About Him by Anonymous - Now hear me out...it's Atsumu x Kageyama -- I know! Weird, rare pair and I thought it was a bit intriguing yet unsettling. I read it though and it made me squeal, and the pair itself is very interesting. I don't usually rare pair ship, but the fan art makes my heart race! This rec is for the rare pair shippers that need a little more support!
> 
> |sockdae - An artist on Instagram and their work is the cutest! They do post a lot of Haikyuu but also other things (they're a fan of Kpop if that interests anyone). Check them out!
> 
> That's all for now! Hope to see you guys in the next chapter ლ(・ヮ・ლ)


	46. Bokuto

Date : November 21 1997

Time : 8:02 AM

Current Location : In the blue skies

Status : Mission - Failed

Bokuto loved to fly. On his broom, with his wings, on an airplane even from his very brief memory of going to South Korea in his youth, Bokuto loved it all. Flying was just so freeing. You could see the world below you, and not in the condescending way that most people off the bat assumed. It wasn't that Bokuto liked looking down on people - he liked to see how the world was linked together.  
The tree in someone's backyard had it's branches hanging in their neighbours so their dog jumps to bite the branch but the leaves fall everywhere so those leaves start blowing in another direction where it makes a small pile a little boy on the other side of town decides to jump to. In conclusion, there was a connection between a family and a little boy bringing joy to both.  
Bokuto liked those connections. It was a reminder that the world was a lot smaller than people thought and that nothing was 'impossible'.

Bokuto did _not_ love flying with letters in his mouth.

Kuroo's idea of 'helping out' was to send letters once a week since nothing was getting past letter inspection with the Ministry guards. So Bokuto would send the letters on Friday mornings when the guards were a little more lenient because the weekend was coming up. Kuroo would hide the window he was sneaking out of with 20 plus letters in his mouth.   
20 _plus_ letters. Even his human mouth would hurt holding those! Not to mention that little beak of his that couldn't even hold a strawberry without difficulty. But to be fair, they were taking rounds of who could write and you couldn't each week, and so far Bokuto could say that the thickest letters were from the Hufflepuffs.

"-and I said I wasn't going to have it. So I sucked his dick in the bathroom stall during Potions class. He wasn't being that great of a boyfriend, in my opinion, but it wasn't too bad."

The fly to Hogwarts was a bit far each time, Bokuto didn't know exactly how far, but he would come back to the muggle school at around 3 PM each time. One of the few things that were motivating him to fly back were delivering letters to Akaashi and the conversations he got to hear at the Owlery from the students who picked up the letters or had pet owls. It wasn't a popular hang out spot, so you could talk about _anything_.

"I think he was being...reasonable."  
"That's what you think," Yahaba pointed his finger at Kunimi, the two Slytherins going to each owl with a little bucket of food, feeding them a palm full of seeds or dead mice or whatever concoction the elves in the kitchen made for them. Bokuto wanted to make sure he didn't get a share before lunch because he didn't think his stomach could handle it.

"You're too expecting. He's probably annoyed," Kunimi said bluntly as the two of them went around, Yahaba doing most of the work. "He'll break up with you soon if you keep that attitude up."  
"Don't say that, asshat!" Yahaba pushed him lightly with an angry look on his face. "He won't break up with me for giving him a blowjob!""He will if you do it when he tells you to stop." Kunimi shrugged, sticking his tongue out.

"Ever heard of the word 'consent'?"

Slytherin conversations were the juiciest so far, especially the older they were. Bokuto listened a little closer, letters put down in front of him. He pretended to be as much of an owl as possible by sitting there, his eyes wide staring straight at them. Owls stared a lot, didn't they?

"I don't think he's the type to take bullshit," Kunimi said with a disinterested voice, humming softly as Yahaba fed another owl a live mouse in one go. "Once he realizes he's better than you he'll leave. Don't blame him though."  
"Aren't you supposed to be my friend?" Yahaba huffed at him, going back over to Kunimi and kicking him in the leg. Bokuto could see Kunimi holding in a groan. "Kyoutani likes me for me! Even if I am a little pushy."

Yahaba and Kunimi were both younger than Bokuto. But he found it quite interesting that they acted so mature. They've even gotten intimate? Bokuto still blushed sometimes when Akaashi held his hand with their fingers interlocked...

"Wasn't he one of the kids affected by the Amortentia last year?" Kunimi asked, cocking his head. "Didn't you two start dating after that whole incident?""What are you implying?" Yahaba growled, glaring hard at Kunimi while Kunimi shrugged innocently as a reply.

"Nothing," Kunimi raised his hands up in mock surrender. "Just thought it was a coincidence. I hope you two have a happy love life together.""We will have a happy love life together! We don't need your hope for it to be successful!"

Speaking of Akaashi, Bokuto hasn't been able to see him yet. Which, he didn't exactly long for it or anything. Of course he wanted to see Akaashi, but it wasn't like that was a good idea, and the smarter part of his brain was telling him that he needed to stay interested in the tasks at hand and deliver the letters. If Bokuto were to see Akaashi, without question would he turn into a human and give him the biggest hug in the history of hugging.

"You two. Breakfast is happening now," a familiarly comforting, low voice said, not yet identified to a person since they were still walking up the stairs. "Go down now if you're going to take your time. The headmaster is making another announcement."

When Bokuto saw Akaashi coming up the steps he almost fell out of the window.

"Don't blame me. I was doing all the work," Yahaba hissed at Kunimi when he gave the bucket of owl food to Akaashi. "I'm not blaming anyone," Akaashi responded in a calm tone. "Just go down for breakfast."

Yahaba and Kunimi didn't argue, just continuing their conversation on down the stairs. Bokuto's big owl eyes were even wider as he watched Akaashi feeding the rest of the owls, petting each and every one of them gently, cooing at their hooting and smiling softly at a few.  
When Akaashi was getting closer to Bokuto his heart was both racing and stopping. He wasn't supposed to interact but another quiet, bad voice in the back of Bokuto's mind was screaming that no one else was there but them.

"Hungry?" Akaashi asked the owl form of Bokuto, not looking at him properly yet as he fished out for something to eat. The letters Bokuto was delivering lay in front of him, sliding down slowly as the seconds ticked away. Bokuto was so close to just flying out the window and hoping Akaashi saw the names on the letters, knowing who to deliver them to.

"I have a white mouse right here just for-" Akaashi stopped when he looked at Bokuto as an owl, eyes fixated on the top where the grey and black frayed out, uniquely sticking up in a way Akaashi claimed was his point for identifying Bokuto from other birds. In a distance he couldn't tell, but up close like this Akaashi always knew who Bokuto was among a flock of owls.

Today proved to be no exception.

"Bokuto-san?"

Hearing his name being called out was a lot, especially when it was so soft, so intimate. No one but them in the Owlery. If Bokuto were to change back right now, who would even know?

"It's you, Bokuto-san. I know it's you," Akaashi whispered, going on his knees so he was eye to eye, Bokuto slowly taking a few steps back but Akaashi hovered his hands over him, almost like he was trying to trap him and making it so he couldn't leave just yet. Bokuto didn't want to leave either though! He wished there was a way for him to say such words.

"Don't make me look stupid," Akaashi went on, a desperate look on his face. "If you're just another owl then I have officially gone insane. So please, Bokuto-san. Just for a minute," Akaashi turned around to make sure no one was coming up, then back at Bokuto. "Change."

Bokuto knew what was going to happen if he did change into a human though. That one minute would turn into five and then that five minutes would be a little too long for people to not notice - and when they didn't notice someone would come up. Even if it wasn't a teacher, being caught was't a good thing. God forbid a law-loving citizen like Ushijima.

"Bokuto-san, please-" at the last minute, Bokuto used his talon to push the letters on the ground, making Akaashi gasp in shock when the thirty or so letters dropped, 'To Noya-kun' being the one on the top so Akaashi could do the math. 

"Bokuto-san!" Akaashi yelled out when Bokuto spread his wings out, jumping out of the window and soaring, flapping his wings hard to leave that place as quickly as he could. He couldn't even bring himself to turn his head to see what kind of face Akaashi was making because he didn't want to fly back and comfort him. He couldn't afford todo that right now.

Bokuto had a job and he was determined to do it. No matter how selfish he wanted to be right now.

Going back to the muggle school, Kuroo was already waiting at the window so he could keep it in open and make sure Bokuto didn't get caught transforming. As Bokuto zoomed through the window he swiftly changed into his human form, jumping into the room and landing on his stomach with an 'oof'.

"For fucks sake!" Kuroo hissed when Bokuto made a big 'thump' sound as he landed, sighing as he watched Bokuto groaning on the ground in pain. "A little more gentle, won't you?"  
"Sorry," Bokuto coughed, holding his probably bruised stomach. "I needed to turn into a human as quickly as possible. What time is it?"

How was it that Bokuto's heart was still beating so hard right now? It was insane, but his head was filled with Akaashi and he couldn't calm down at all. He wasn't sure if he should be telling Kuroo, yet at the same time he knew if he didn't say anything, Kuroo would find out eventually.

"It's still 2:30," Kuroo said in equal surprise as Bokuto since he was earlier than usual. "You flew as fast as you could, huh? Did a crow chase you down or something?" Bokuto shook his head, not having the time to process a laugh.

"I delivered the letters, but," Bokuto gulped, looking around to grab the nearest source of a drink. Quietly apologizing to Semi, Bokuto took his water bottle and swigged a huge gulp of it, gasping softly as he let go. He refilled it with his wand (remembering as an aftermath that he even had it in the first place) then laid down, panting softly and closing his eyes.

"I saw Akaashi. He saw me too and recogni-""He recognized you?" Kuroo asked loudly, laying down on the ground beside Bokuto, his eyes wide in fascination. "He really did? Recognize you?"

Bokuto could only nod his head, letting out soft pants as he calmed himself down. He had to admit, now that his head was cooled down he sunk in how amazing that was Akaashi could identify which owl was him despite not seeing him in that form in almost 6 months, and it wasn't like Bokuto was a special owl or anything. So it didn't help his heart when he realized Akaashi really could recognize him no matter what.

"Did you see Kenma?"  
"You know Kenma hates the Owlery," Bokuto sighed, covering his eyes with an arm and shaking his head. "I thought I wanted to see Akaashi this whole time but it ended up being...too dangerous."

Kuroo didn't say anything so they lay there in silence for a bit amount of time, Kuroo looking up at the browning ceiling and Bokuto keeping his eyes closed, the visualization of Akaashi fresh in his mind.

"Did you see anyone else?" Bokuto just nodded his head but didn't say any names since they weren't anyone Kuroo was interested in. Every time Bokuto went to Hogwarts he would ask several questions, but oddly enough never if he's seen Kenma until now. Bokuto assumed it was because if Bokuto did see Kenma one day then he wouldn't hesitate telling Kuroo.

"What did he say?" Kuroo asked. "Akaashi."

Bokuto had to uncover his eyes and turn to look at Kuroo to see exactly what his expression was. Was he actually interested in what Akaashi had to say or was he just trying to make Bokuto feel better? Either way, he was glad he had an opportunity to talk about his beloved Akaashi a little longer.

"He said not to make him look stupid. He wanted me to change into a human.""Well of course," Kuroo snorted, looking over at Bokuto with a befuddled expression on his face like it was obvious. "If Kenma saw me there as a cat he would choke me to change back. That's a given!"

Bokuto didn't think Kuroo would be so passionate about the fact that Akaashi wanted to see Bokuto again. In fact, he thought Kuroo would just indulge Bokuto in that fact and let him enjoy it on his own. To see Kuroo getting worked up about it, it was a bit weird but Bokuto assumed it was because Kuroo wanted his friend to see his favourite person.

"You're lucky, Bokuto. You changed into a useful animal."

Something in Bokuto's chest shifted a bit when Kuroo said that, now realizing that there was a bit more to it other than Kuroo wanting to feel happy for his friend. "A cat is usef-""Don't."

It was Kuroo's turn to cover his eyes with his arm, letting out a soft sigh as he shook his head. "I'm not saying I'm useless," Kuroo corrected quickly before Bokuto could give him a sappy speech about how everyone had their strengths and weaknesses to offer. "I just wished my role in this included an ability to go to Hogwarts too, you know? I want to see Kenma and watch him ask me not to make him look stupid." Kuroo went on saying, making Bokuto realize a little more how fortunate he was even though in the moment he saw Akaashi panic washed through him. Maybe he should just carry Kuroo with his talons the next time the opportunity came up and then they could both see their favourite Ravenclaws.

"Kuroo-san! I washed it!" 

Hinata's voice was so loud and as bright as he was. Bokuto sat up right away when he heard it at the door, turning to see the shining 4th year with an unusual pout on his face, holding the sweater inside the room while he stayed out. Kuroo stood up and went over to Hinata, taking the sweater but then dropping it when he touched it.

"What the fuck! It's still wet!" Kuroo growled, pointing at the sweater and making Hinata pick it up. "Well, yeah. I just washed it," Hinata said innocently with a shrug making it seem as if it wasn't a big deal.

"You told me to wash it. So I washed it," he cocked his head to the side, a shiver going down Bokuto's spine because he's never seen Hinata's eyes so dark before. "I did what you told me to do, Kuroo-san. Is there a problem?"

Bokuto wanted to laugh t the face Kuroo pulled, a mix of fear and disappointment as Hinata fanned Kageyama's sweater, the wet drips landing on Kuroo making him flinch. "Oi-""I did what you asked," Hinata huffed, crossing his arms and passing Kuroo to put the sweater against the window sill to dry. "I don't know what you're getting all worked up for."  
"Don't get a smart mouth with me, kid!" Kuroo scolded, Hinata ignoring him and sitting in front of Bokuto with a exasperated pout. "'m not," Hinata said while plunging forward, Bokuto automatically opening his arms and holding Hinata in a tight hug.

"Aww, so fluffy," Bokuto giggled, Hinata laughing along with him. "C'mon Kuroo, don't be so dramatic.""Me? Dramatic? Never!" Kuroo exclaimed dramatically. Bokuto laughed again, rubbing his knuckles against Hinata's head. If he had a sibling, he would want them to be exactly like Hinata. 

"Aw, Kuroo, look at 'im! He's just being a kid."  
"Being a kid my ass," Kuroo responded coldly, going up to both of them and flicking both their foreheads at the same time. "You're so mature in front of Natsu-chan but then when it's us you act like a toddler!"  
"Because Natsu-chan needs a good example! I'm the only one she can look up to. Well, my mom too I guess," Hinata said with a shrug then stuck his tongue out at Kuroo. "When I'm around seniors though, I don't have to be."  
"You hang around Kenma too much!"

Bokuto laughed a bit as Hinata acted snarky and immature, feeling sort of like a little family. That's what the Gryffindor house was to Bokuto - family.  
A family that wasn't really his family but acted way more like his family than his actual family ever did. A sad reality that Bokuto was learning slowly to come to good terms with. If ever Bokuto looked at it differently though, if he were to wake up one day and Kuroo and Hinata and Akaashi were gone - what would be left for him?

"How was Hogwarts?" Hinata asked with wide eyes, letting go of Bokuto and sitting on his feet, his face lighting up with excitement. "Is it still the same? Did you see Kageyama? Hopefully he wasn't surrounded by girls again!"

Bokuto didn't have the heart to pour out to Hinata about how he did see Akaashi and how Akaashi basically had his own little version of a breakdown in front of Bokuto. Hinata didn't need to hear all of that and sympathize with Akaashi. It'll just create more hurt that wasn't necessary where they were.

"Mhm. Lots of owls."  
"That's amazing!" Hinata said in awe, vibrating with such energy that Bokuto magnified easily. As the two kept talking more boys started entering the room, Terushima bouncing off the walls with a snuck in porno magazine, Lev apologizing when he stepped all over Aone's feet on accident and Semi explaining to Tendou that he couldn't just 'tell the 1st years to get a fucking life already'.

"Ah! Lev broke the faucet again!" Kogane shouted from the hallway, running inside where Lev was no where near any faucet, a worried expression on his face. "Lev! Your big hands broke the twisty part of it and now none of the hot water is coming out!"  
"Hot water didn't come out of it in the first place," Terushima scoffed, standing up but Bokuto stood up as well. Poor, clumsy Lev. No one even questioned that it was him because it was almost like it was expected.

"I'll fix it," Bokuto said, patting Terushima's back and letting him sit back down. Everybody had crappy lessons while Bokuto got to see a glimpse of Akaashi, so was his day really all that bad? Holding a bunch of letters in his beak did make his jaw sore, but nothing he wasn't used to.

"Don't worry, just do your homework," Bokuto chuckled as he ruffled Terushima's head, laughing as he scowled and playfully flicked his forehead. "Good kids just have to do work.""You're still a kid too!" Terushima replied, but didn't make an effort to stand up and protest. So it was up to Bokuto to go to the bathroom and fix the faucet the Ministry for sure wasn't going to fix, while Kuroo stayed in the boy's room and settled everyone down, probably with the help of Sugawara.

The boy's bathroom, over the past few weeks, turned into the typical boy's bathroom you would expect boys to create.

A shitty mess and it did not help that there wasn't exactly cleaning crew to help them out. Wet toilet paper wadded the ceiling (thanks to a now absent Tanaka), but some of them dried up, scratches on the stall walls that were probably done out of boredom, and now a faucet in a deranged sort of angle that Lev probably didn't do but he was the easiest and most believable person to blame.

"What am I supposed to use then?" Bokuto said out loud, talking to himself because it made him feel ten times better. "You are going to be a hard fix, aren't you?" Bokuto hummed a little tune to himself as he inspected the faucet, turning the handles a few times, trying to adjust it and see what the matter was. He looked down where all the fancy tubes and drainage were, seeing if there was a problem there.

That was when he remembered - Bokuto had his wand.

It was tucked in his sleeve like most times at this school since he didn't wear his Hogwarts uniform robes anymore, yet no one has caught him or the others possessing their wands. Did the Minister not notice four of the wands he stole missing from where he kept them? Being the Minster of Magic, perhaps he had better things to do in his time though.

"Can I..." Bokuto looked at the door to see if anyone was coming in, holding his wand in his hand, but still having it tucked in his sleeve. His heart was racing so hard, pounding till he could feel it crushing his ribs because there was so much he was willing to risk just to fix this faucet.

But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't about fixing the faucet. Maybe Bokuto missed magic so much. The feeling of waving his wand around and having something that was supposed to be difficult happen in a split second. The feeling of saying a simple spell and the possible became possible in a matter of two syllables. The connection he had with the wizarding world despite coming from a whole world away.

Bokuto missed doing magic so much, he was willing to swing a wand around right now even if it meant getting caught.

"Just..." Bokuto took his wand out completely and pointed it to the faucet, gulping hard because this was basically a neon sign on the top of his saying 'RULE BREAKER' and even 'CATCH ME, I'M DOING MAGIC'.  
Bokuto's argument though, was that he was a wizard. Why wouldn't he be doing magic? It was in his nature! If he didn't do magic then what kind of wizard was that? A real lame one, he could guarantee that much.

" _Reparo_."

The faucet started making a weird creaking noise, rubbing the metals of the drains and the ceramic of the sink together until the faucet itself moved as well and was adjusted to a more accurate position of what a faucet should look like.  
It was fixed. Within a matter of seconds with the help of his wand, may Bokuto add. Not that he was bragging or anything, anyone could do it. But boy, did it feel good that it was Bokuto who did it.

"You weren't that hard!" Bokuto laughed victoriously, putting his wand back in his sleeve, his fists on either side of his hips, looking down at the faucet cockily, as if he won some sort of battle after fixing the faucet. "You thought you could stop us, but that's not true! Hah! Did you see that Akaashi? I totally-" When Bokuto turned around his heart sank and the waves of pride washed down like a tide mixing in with the ocean of disappointment.

That happened a lot when they first arrived at the school. Bokuto thought he was over it, but it turned out he could do it subconsciously too.

His face fell, his heart dropped to his stomach, then he laughed it off shaking his head. "Ah..." Maybe it was because he saw Akaashi today that made him so antsy. Maybe it was because he caught a glimpse of what used to be and now he was a little more emotional than usual.

Whatever the 'maybe' was, Bokuto was feeling it a lot in his chest, especially when it tightened up.

As Bokuto left the bathroom, he felt a little more distracted than before. With a little bit of disdain and heartbreak, Bokuto started walking back to the boy's room, just wanting to lie down and maybe even miss dinner with how depressed he was feeling now that he remembered his missed chance seeing Akaashi and reassuring his wellness. And Akaashi even recognized him...

"Sorry-" Bokuto was set back as he bumped into someone, stepping back more than usual since he was already out of it. Looking up, Bokuto felt it was at least common curtesy to look whoever he bumped into in the eye.

And that was when he stumbled further back as he made eye contact with Minister Faiji.

What was Minister Faiji doing here, roaming the hallways? Did he find out Tendou stole his wand back? Was he going to kick them out on the street now? Or was he going to do something eve worse?

"I-I apologize!" Bokuto said quickly before anything else stupid could be said, bowing a full 90 degrees. He wasn't going to risk any fuck ups in front of the Minister, not when it was almost the holidays and Bokuto could go _home_ soon. Could he? He couldn't remember, but he liked to think he could at least go back to the real muggle world for Christmas. Anywhere but here basically.

"Koutarou-kun?"

The voice of what was surely the Minister (Bokuto wasn't sure, he's never talked to the Minister before) called out, making Bokuto flinch and step back again. So he did know the students name. That was unsettling to know. 

"Koutarou-kun," the Minister this time whispered, taking Bokuto by the shoulders and pulling him. "Stand. It's-It's-" now that Bokuto was looking at the Minister properly, something did seem off. The Minister hasn't been seen in a while and he all of a sudden appears but isn't rampaging around the school and shitting on the muggle borns like usual. His precious pure bloods weren't at the school anymore either, so there wasn't any manipulation happening.

Why was the Minister here?

"I have one hour. You need to tell me what's happening," the Minister said quickly, pulling Bokuto to the side of the hallway and giving him a few Galleons and cents of muggle money that got Bokuto to drop it quickly. Without fazing, the Minister picked the money up.

"Koutarou-kun, now's not the time-""Headmaster?" Bokuto wasn't sure because there wasn't much to go off of except for the behaviour, but this surely wasn't the Minster of Magic in front of Bokuto right now.

"Yes! Now, I don't have much time," the Minister-looking-headmaster said as he shoved the money in Bokuto's hand. Polyjuice potion was really magnificent. Too bad it didn't give the headmaster enough time to explain what the fuck was happening.

"I wanted to see if this was true. They wouldn't let me as a headmaster go, so I..." headmaster Akaashi kept looking behind him, whipping his head around the halls to make sure none of the Ministry supervisors were coming this way. "I needed to see it. I needed proof and honestly, standing outside of here I can see everything I need," the headmaster sighed, shaking his head as he got back in focus, putting his hands firmly on Bokuto's shoulders.

"Listen to me carefully, Koutarou-kun. This is something that needs a lot of communication. So for now, until I get another council meeting next week, you need to endure this and keep everyone together."

Bokuto's eyes widened, about to protest and tell headmaster Akaashi that 'keeping everyone together' was more of a Kuroo job. Bokuto couldn't even keep himself together! How was he supposed to keep a bunch of teenage boys together and cooperate, a whole bunch of them too! And not to mention the girls - they were having an equally hard time as well, even more so actually. This wasn't a 'Bokuto' kind of job.

"One week, Koutarou-kun. I know you can do that for me."

This was Akaashi's father asking this favour though. Young as they may be, Bokuto hasn't felt more determined to do something before in order to prove worth to Akaashi. His parents have already put the whole wizarding existence in danger, that including Akaashi. So even if this wasn't a 'Bokuto' kind of job, he still wanted to do it and seek it to the end. Bokuto wanted to do this much.

"I can," Bokuto said firmly, giving headmaster Akaashi a soldier's salute, a solid look on his face as he puffed his cheeks up along with his chest. "Even if you need more than one week, headmaster! I'll be sure to keep everyone in line!""I knew you could," headmaster said as he affectionately patter Bokuto on the head, a warm smile on his face that Bokuto believed would be the same if his own father still remembered him.  
In a way, Bokuto was happy that out of everyone, headmaster Akaashi was Akaashi's father. Even if it was a little terrifying.

"I need to go into the offices and other rooms now. Before things get too suspicious. I'll be gone by tonight, but I know I'll be seeing you soon, Koutarou-kun." Almost like he was hesitating, headmaster Akaashi was about to go in for a handshake, but at the last minute pulled Bokuto in for a hug. It was surprising, but Bokuto hugged him back as well. Not the ideal place to get such a gesture, and the fact that technically physically it was Minister Faiji in his arms, but the reassurance was warming and Bokuto felt more strength than before. Headmaster Akaashi patted him on the back as he pulled away, giving Bokuto one last assertive nod.

"You're a good kid, Koutarou-kun. I wouldn't want it to be anyone else."

It took Bokuto a while to realize what headmaster Akaashi meant by that, but by the time he understood, headmaster Akaashi was already gone.

"That took a long time! You take a shit or something?"

Bokuto was so overwhelmed with realizing it was headmaster Akaashi that he forgot to ask if it was okay to tell people he saw him. Obviously not _see_ him see him, but met with him and got told that this wasn't going to last too much longer (ideally). Headmaster Akaashi wouldn't have minded, would he?

"Is there a problem? I fixed the faucet, didn't I?" Bokuto growled as he kicked a pillow at Kuroo's face but Kuroo dodged it, hitting it back at Bokuto without hesitation. "Yeah, yeah, sure," Kuroo rolled his eyes, totally ignorant to the fact that headmaster Akaashi probably peaked into this very room not too long ago, was possibly still very near them right at this moment and was working on a way to get them out of here.

"You saw the Minister?" Hinata asked in awe to Tendou in the corner, Bokuto stiffened up but eavesdropped, pretending to be focused on other things. "Walking around the halls," Tendou responded in an oddly stiffened voice, as if he wasn't happy that the Minister was roaming around freely when that was his goal this whole time the other night in the first place. To get the Minister's attention.

"It was that whole explosion," Sugawara filled in, joining the conversation. "I think, anyway. There's no other reason for him to show up. Unless he's planning to sacrifice one of us to the gods.""He wouldn't do that!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to turn around and look at Bokuto, their eyes a bit widened as they waited for the rest of his explanation as to why the fuck he was defending the Minister. He wasn't defending the Minister though! He was defending headmaster Akaashi!

They didn't know that though.

"You friends with the Minister now, Bokuto?"  
"No!" Bokuto answered quickly, not looking up to see who asked. "I just...I just thought that it was bad to think that way. No one's getting sacrificed here, alright? I don't like it when you guys think darkly like that."

That seemed to do it, everyone shrugging it off and going back to what they were doing. Bokuto let out a soft sigh of relief when the suspicions came off him, though Kuroo was looking at him weirdly. Before he could say anything else though, Asahi came in the room, stretching his long limbs, his hair out after a shower.

"So lucky," Tendou tsk'ed as he watched Asahi drying his hair with a towel. "Get to take a shower with your sister. How hot's the water in the girl's bathroom, huh? I bet it's over 10 degrees.""Ah," Asahi said timidly, sitting beside Bokuto and Kuroo, his cheeks pink with a bit of embarrassment. "It's not that hot, really. I think it's warm at best.""That's good water! You're not turning into an icicle every shower you have!" Kogane bursted, sitting up. "Why do you get to take a bath with your sister? That's not fair!" Asahi shrugged, probably because he was tired of explaining for the nth time that Osahi insisted on taking a bath together, and it wasn't an option that she would shower in the boy's bathroom.

"Even if she's your sister, Asahi-kun," Sugawara started saying, putting the magazine he was reading on his chest and lifting his head up to look at him. "Taking a shower together. Isn't it a bit...""Even I don't take a shower with Natsu-chan," Hinata added on, then lighting up a bit as a thought approached him. "Maybe I should start! I could get warm water-""Don't even! That's not fair!" Kogane whined. "Not all of us have siblings to leech off of here!"

Asahi laughed nervously, not contributing to the conversation because no one had to tell him it was a bit odd for them to shower together being how old they were. But Bokuto couldn't really blame them either - they were getting used to this life, but that didn't make it easy. Anything to ease the process was probably a good thing, and if for Osahi that was to shower with her brother then it didn't seem all that bad.

"She's okay though, isn't she?" Bokuto asked, taking the towel from Asahi and drying his hair for him. Asahi stayed still, closing his eyes as Bokuto rubbed his hair, liking to play with the length of it and that oddly 'feminine' scent that he had now that he was taking a shower in the girl's bathroom. Feminine or sweet - either way he smelt much better than the boy's bathroom could ever offer.

"Yeah. I think it's more that she doesn't have a lot of friends," Asahi said quietly, even though no one in the room would really care. "She probably started getting lonely. Sorry I haven't been more active with you guys."  
"Eh, don't worry about it. A sister is a sister. We're merely your friends," Kuroo offered with a grin, kicking Asahi's foot lightly. "Though I have to say, I'm surprised none of the girls have told you off for being in there. No one has told you off?" Asahi hummed, as if he were thinking about his experiences in that bathroom. Asahi wasn't the type to stare or be creepy, especially when someone as chaotic as Nishinoya was waiting for him at home.

"I think they make fun of me more than anything," Asahi said with a shy chuckle. "They like to giggle and look over at us. So maybe they do mind, but I know I look scary so they haven't approached us yet. I'm happy about that much though!"

Kuroo and Bokuto both looked at each, giving each other a look then Bokuto rolled his eyes, hitting Asahi right on the top of his head. "Ow!" Asahi yelped, turning around and looking up at Bokuto. "What was that for?""Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?" Kuroo let out a loud laugh as Asahi looked genuinely confused with why Bokuto was frustrated and borderline angry with Asahi. "You really are as gay as they come, huh?"

Even in hard times, Bokuto knew he could get through it because of the good people he had around him. A bad experience was only as bad as the people going through it with you.

_Koutarou-kun,_

_By the time you're reading this I have already left. I have charmed this letter so by the time you're finished reading it the ink will disappear and no one else will be able to get their hands on it, so no need to burn it. I know my appearance at the school was sudden and surprising, so I wanted to clarify a few things and bring you at ease even after my departure because you must have an abundance of question. The least I can do is answer those questions._

_I found about the muggle born situation too late. Only the night of Halloween when Ushijima-san and Tsukishima-san showed me the recipe did I finally have reason to search on this school and get to the bottom of everything. I am ashamed I didn't do this sooner, for that was the job of the headmaster to protect all students. I thought my ignorance and trust in the Ministry would be able to fix the situation and dismiss the underlying feeling that something was wrong. My selfishness was out of the question and I deeply regret not having done something like this sooner.  
Is it okay to say better late than never?_

_The Minister is in a very tight spot right now. We have a decent amount of claims, witnesses and willing testimonies, however his position is far too high up to take him down so easily. After my visit here though, I hope that this will be good enough to put a disturbing conscious on the Ministry members and hopefully put them in a questioning position. The Minister might have their necks, but I'm hoping seeing the way he's been treating muggle borns will be able to move their hearts._

_Hogwarts as well is doing their best to try and attest to this situation. Yours and Keiji's friend, Yuu-kun, is a very active and energetic boy. Him and Oikawa-san have put up a rally for the muggle borns, and although I do not understand fully how it is organized, I did not stop them. They have created a lot of noise and disruption at Hogwarts, which I am pleased to say has caught attention._

_Tetsurou-kun's father showed up at Hogwarts asking for an address. I did not reveal the information in order to keep things as civil as possible, but here on this end he is doing what he could as well. I doubt you will keep this a secret from Tetsurou-kun, so I trust you'll deliver the message with as little abruption as possible. His father is safe and fine and is now helping me with preparation and defence. He is quite an intelligent man._

_This news might come to a shock to you and I have contemplated whether or not I should tell you this much. However, after thinking about this over and over and pondering, I have decided to tell you at least an outline of the story._   
_Due to my son's tremendous stubborn attitude and what I hope is curiosity, your parents have had the privilege of visiting Hogwarts. Nothing happened. We had a long and insightful talk. It was irresponsible of Keiji, but I think it was a conversation that had to happen.  
They haven't hunted since then though. They may have found another place to find magical creatures or they may have stopped. I think it would be nice if one day we could find out together what they decided to do._

_I think until now, Koutarou-kun, that I have been sitting on a chair just below the throne. I never once thought of myself as greedy or self indulgent, but if these past 3 months have taught me anything it's that I as a parent have failed if another child feels in danger under my care. It was my job to protect you, and now it's my job not just as a headmaster but as someone who has more opportunity and voice as you to take a blow you shouldn't have to worry about taking in the first place._

_So listen to me, Koutarou-kun. No matter what happens after this, no matter how things end or how they fall, keep yourself and who you love safe. Keep them close. I choose to protect my family and that includes Hogwarts. And sitting on a comfortable chair near the top is not a place a person can protect others. I choose to stand in the front line because I know that's my place in this._

_Please choose your place carefully._

_Stay safe. Be good._

_All Sincerity,_

_Akaashi Hirohito  
_ _赤葦浩仁_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy to send out another chapter! Woohoo!! Now that one week of school is finished and I sort of have an idea of when I can type (honestly, I can type during a lecture. It's not a big deal) I think I have a rough idea of when I can post! It unfortunately won't be my signature daily, but I personally like to do more than once a week. I hope that will keep everyone interested and you will still continue enjoying my series!
> 
> Unfortunately I don't have recommended creators (I've been so busy I couldn't be a content consumer ｜−・;）) but I would love to ask how you guys are doing! Has school started? Work getting busy? Are things fine? Feel free to express, it doesn't have to be about the fic or the chapter. Things are crazy, the world is crazy - let it out! Online school still sucks, I don't have any shame because my camera and mic is turned off anyway. So there's that :)
> 
> I hope everyone will have a good week and we can all get through this! Everybody - good luck!! <3


	47. Asahi

Date : November 23 1997

Time : 6:22 PM

Current Location : Girl's Bathroom

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"Ow! It got in my eye."  
"That's why I told you to close your eyes tight. Here, let me see."

Osahi turned around, her eyes closed as Asahi gently opened them, washing away the unnamed shampoo from Osahi's eye. He blew inside her eye a few times, making her flinch but he held her still before finally washing everything completely.

"Okay, blink now." Osahi whimpered but obeyed, slowly blinking and therefore opening her eyes a little bit more until she was comfortable. Her eye was red but at least she could see now. "Now close your eyes again. I'm not done washing your hair yet."

It wasn't Asahi's idea, though a lot of the boys that weren't his friend liked to say it was. They like to spread around that Asahi purposefully used the sister excuse in order to stay in the girls shower and be a little pervert or whatever while he 'helped Osahi'. He wasn't helping Osahi that much, but Asahi wasn't being a weird perverted older brother either - only the people who bothered to talk to Asahi knew that though.

"How's your classes?" Asahi asked as he washed out the shampoo from Osahi's hair, scrubbing her back and neck as well. The showers were a little cramped, yes, and he couldn't move the shower head, but it proved comfortable by the warmness of the water. And Osahi was his sister anyway, it wasn't like they were seeing anything for the first time.

"Oh, you know," Osahi shrugged. "Just sleeping in there." Usually Asahi would flick the back of her head lightly or scold her quietly, telling her sleeping in class wasn't beneficial for anyone and she would be hurting her professor's feelings. This time though, he laughed.

"At least you're sleeping comfortably," Asahi offered, making Osahi shrug with a weak laugh. "What about the girls in your class? Are they treating you nicely? Are you treating them nicely?" Asahi asked, wanting to make sure Osahi was making friends since he couldn't be with her that often. It was better now compared at Hogwarts (not saying Asahi wanted to stay here or anything) so Asahi knew better now that Osahi's friends really were all Slytherin.

"Can't I sleep with you tonight?" Osahi asked in a defeated voice. "I'll be in the corner! You and Tendou-san can border around me and no other boy will make me feel uncomfortable." Asahi sighed at the continuation of this conversation, shaking his head as he stopped the water. Their five minute shower time was approaching it's deadline. He stuck his hand out to reach a towel, then started to dry Osahi's hair, trusting she could dry her own body.

"I already told you. It's cramped in there and I don't want anyone bothering you."  
"No one's going to bother me! I have you," Osahi practically, begged, taking the towel and cover her body up with a wrap. Asahi had to straight change into his clothes without drying anything, letting Osahi have one of his towels so she could dry her hair too.

"This is a good time to make friends," Asahi insisted, stepping out of the shower and waiting for Osahi to change into her clothes before helping her dry her hair with a towel, rubbing it hard. "You can make friends with people from other houses. That's important." Osahi grumbled something Asahi chose to pretend he didn't hear, then went on to twisting the towel around Osahi's hair into the towel.

"Why? I'll end up dating a Gryffindor too?"  
"You never know," Asahi said quickly, not wanting to show any sign of blushing or embarrassment because there was no reason to be embarrassed. He was proud of being Nishinoya's boyfriend!  
He couldn't help if his face got hotter when he remembered such a thing.

"Go to your room now. The other girls have to shower."

Osahi didn't argue about it wanting to sleep in the boy's room, just grumbling along as she trudged to the girl's room, on the other side of the hall as the boy's (Asahi wasn't sure if they did that on purpose or it just happened like that) the two of them separating. When Asahi went back to the boy's room, everyone as usual was messing around, loud as they ran all across the room, some hiding under blankets to read, most of them screaming and throwing the raw meat from dinner at each other and none of them doing their homework or assignments that were said to be due tomorrow.

Maybe this was the real reason why Asahi didn't want Osahi in here.

"Ah. You're back!" Sugawara greeted with a smile, Tendou laying down beside him and drawing with a knife on the concrete floor. Where Tendou got a knife, Asahi decided it was better to just not ask right now.

"Anything interesting happen? How's the girl's dorm doing?"  
"Not bad, I guess. As good as we're having it I suppose," Asahi shrugged, sitting down beside Sugawara and drying his hair. He sat as far away as possible from Tendou, and luckily the red haired Slytherin didn't seem to be offended by that.

"You're a good older brother," Sugawara said with a soft smile, laying down and stretching his limbs out in front of Asahi as he yawned. Even though it wasn't late, there wasn't much to do in the first place so sleeping was a big option for them to pass the time.

"Makes me wish I had younger siblings," Sugawara sighed then grinned up at Asahi. "But I guess I have those Gryffindors Daichi-kun loves so much-""Sugawara-san!" Kogane screamed from the other side of the room, waving his hands around. "Sugawara-san! Lev shit his pants!""I didn't!" Lev whined, covering up his stomach with his arms. "Kogane, stop!""Oh. Never mind!" Kogane said with a smile, sitting back down and whispering to Lev, but everyone could hear him say 'I thought you said you shit your pants?'.

"Younger siblings are fun. But for the older sibling it's like...you have to grow up faster," Asahi admitted with a light chuckle when the attention went back on him and Sugawara ended up leaving Lev and Kogane alone.

"I think it'd be nice being pampered once in a while." They both laughed, finding they were feeling a little lighter as the conversation wasn't too controversy heavy and they were having a normal sort of experience.  
As normal as it could get anyway.

"Noya-kun pampers you though," Sugawra pointed out, looking up at Asahi. "Doesn't he?"

Asahi didn't even have to think about it as he nodded his head enthusiastically, smiling like an idiot. "Of course he does! He always does."

Whatever Bokuto said about 'ignorance being bliss' was a load of horse poop and Asahi was not in a blissful state. 

Every time Asahi went over to the girls dorm to give something to Osahi, stepped out of the shower with his hair wet and down, even walking in the hallways and trying to get from the classroom back to the boy's room, the girls surrounding him would whisper and give him looks that made Asahi freeze in self consciousness. This has happened before, especially in the muggle world whenever he was on the train or in line. People assumed by his appearance he was some sort of gangster or thug when that wasn't the case at all obviously! And now that it was happening at school with peers that knew that too, Asahi was wondering if it was something else.

"He's coming!" One squealed excitedly as Asahi passed by, his shoulders tensing up when he heard giggling, unknowingly holding his breath in the process. When he successful walked by without having any horrendous comments thrown at him, he was able to breath again.

"Comes easy, doesn't it?" Terushima said out of nowhere as he looked at the girls, clapping Asahi on the back. "Not bad. Not bad at all..." Asahi gave Terushima a confused look, unsure what he was talking about, but before he could ask for clarification Terushima was following Hinata around playing some sort of variant of tag. Asahi was thinking about it for the next fifteen minutes until Sugawara called on him to work on homework together.

It happened again though, at lunch time when Asahi decided to sit with Osahi that day instead of having lunch with his friends like usual. He wanted to see what type of people surrounded Osahi and why she wasn't making friends. 

"Hello, Asahi-san," Yachi bowed with a soft smile as she passed by with her friends, the rest of them behind her and giggling as they looked over her shoulder. "Is-Is it okay if we sit with you guys?"

Asahi's eyes widened, feeling it was the perfect opportunity for Osahi to make some friends even if they weren't the same year. From the look in Osahi's eyes she seemed indifferent so Asahi nodded, excited to try and get his sister to socialize.

"You know Osahi, right, Yaa-chan?" Asahi asked, a bit confused when the girls that joined along - 3 others from Gryffindor, all in their 4th year like Yachi - when Asahi asked the question. Yachi whimpered quietly, Asahi could barely hear it, then nodded her head. "Of course! Osa-chan, how are you finding your 3rd year? Ah, well, I guess it's not as good as it can be though, considering..."

Asahi tried easing the conversation with a soft laugh then pushed Osahi's arm lightly in encouragement to say something back. "It-It's fine..." Osahi coughed out making Asahi smile brightly in pride at the improvement. "I've been writing family, so...""That's good!" Yachi exclaimed, getting into the conversation more enthusiastically as she inched closer to her. "I think we've all been writing more. Ever since they've been letting more letters out especially! I haven't written my dad so many pages before!"

When the conversing for Osahi ran much smoother and Asahi didn't need to be there anymore. He didn't just up and leave though, that would've been rude. Of course he waited till the end of lunch, a bit before so he could clean up his and Osahi's plate, then slid out of his seat as he quietly told Osahi he would be leaving now. In an oddly bittersweet way, Osahi was too into the conversation with Yachi about the latest J-Pop boy group that she just waved her hand and nodded.

"I'll help you!" One of the 4th year Gryffindors said, a friend of Yachi Asahi has seen around before but never talked to. All the other girls just watched, and though Asahi didn't notice it, the girl was blushing a bright pink.

"Thank you," Asahi said with genuine gratitude as they both took the plates and bowls of everyone, only Asahi's raw meat on the plate as something they needed to throw out. They went to the front of the cafeteria where you threw the dishes and the garbage for the staff or whichever misbehaving student (and there was always at least one) had the misfortune of washing the dishes for that meal.

"Ah, Azumane-san is re-really cool! Osa-chan is lucky to have a big brother like you," the shy Gryffindor stuttered out making Asahi smile down warmly at her. "Is that what you think? I'm glad," Asahi chuckled softly, scratching the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment, not because he got complimented but because he agreed. He liked to think he was a pretty good older brother.

"It would be nice if she had more friends though," Asahi admitted with a sigh. "You girls seem very friendly. Hopefully we can all get along," Asahi said in a cheerful manner making the girl heat up even more and nod in agreement.

"I-I would like that very much!"

All of a sudden, before either one could continue the conversation, two arms were wrapping around Asahi's neck, two bodies on each side of him, two more behind him that pressed their chest against Asahi's back and Hinata's short stature coming forward in front of Asahi. It took Asahi by surprise of course, but the Gryffindor girl looked even more shocked and scared, stepping back and stumbling.

"What're you doin''ere, Uwaki-chan?" Tendou's voice from behind asked darkly, Asahi could basically see the face he was making here. "Got tired of flirting with Terushima-kun, huh?" Kuroo added on with a slight smirk, Asahi's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.

"Ku-Kuroo-""Asahi-san has a boyfriend!" Hinata shouted, making a fist and pumping them in front of his chest. "He's not here to claim territory, so I'll be the one to do it if I have to!""Hi-Hinata," Asahi put a hand on his shoulder as his shaky voice was let out. He had no idea what was happening here because Uwaki - or so Asahi heard was her name - seemed so sweet and innocent and a good candidate to be Osahi's friend. She wasn't flirting!

"I don't think Asahi-kun here understands," Sugawara chimed in behind Asahi, resting his chin on Asahi's shoulder. "But you really need to pick on people on your level, Uwaki-chan. Not those who are easy to monopolize."  
"And apologize to Terushima too! He was upset when you weren't there in the courtyard the other night!" Bokuto finished, giving Asahi a bit more of an idea of why they were getting worked up by her socializing with Uwaki.

Uwaki's jaw dropped as all of them had something to say and all of a sudden her sweet smile dropped, scowling at all of them. "Whatever. You weren't my type anyway," she scoffed, walking off back to the table where Osahi and Yachi were still excitedly talking. Asahi didn't notice until she started to pull her shirt back up, but Uwaki's cleavage was in much exposure and showing off more than needed while her skirt was pulled up in a way that Asahi wouldn't be comfortable if Osahi were to do the same thing. Not like that was wrong, he didn't mind self expression if a girl wanted to show more than society allowed them.   
But it was a bit weird she started covering up once she was called out.

"I told you. Ignorance is bliss," Bokuto hummed, patting Asahi on the shoulder. "Don't let those type of people get you, Asahi. They're a waste of your time." Asahi opened his mouth to ask what kind of people but Bokuto let go and turned around along with everyone else.

"Isn't she the girl that broke up with Daishou?"  
"No, no, that's another girl. But he's been dumped a bunch," Sugawara answered Kuroo's question, the four fellow 6th years walking out of the cafeteria, laughing as Tendou made a snarky Daishou comment Asahi didn't have the luxury of hearing.

"I'm not sure what that was about either," Hinata admitted beside Asahi. "Bokuto just told me what to say. I think I nailed it though!" Asahi looked over at the table with Osahi and Yachi talking and a defeated, grumpy Uwaki who banged her head on the table and growled to herself. Asahi was sort of grateful now to because he couldn't imagine Osahi being friends with someone like that or even being in their presence without trying to bite her head off.

"Yeah, Hinata," Asahi smiled, not wanting to look oblivious in front of a junior. "You did great."

Classes. Classes were...bullshit.

Asahi didn't even understand if they were still 'in school' when Asahi hasn't learned anything at all these past few weeks. He still went to class though because there wasn't anything else to do, however he found himself loosening up in class, starting to follow the crowd by not bringing his notebooks or textbooks anymore, not trying to at least learn a little bit of what he could do with self study.  
It really was like a muggle school at this point. 

"You know what I think about at least twice a week?" Sugawara said out loud, the little group of the 6th years in the back - which surprisingly included Asahi - looked over at him to answer his rhetorical question. "Hogwarts doesn't have a sex ed program."  
"I think about that too," Kuroo snapped his fingers, pointing at Sugawara. "You don't even want to know what that's done to Kenma. He thinks it's easy to have sex between guys but he literally has 4 other roommates."  
"It's not the roommates that's concerning though," Bokuto added on to Sugawara's point. "How do you do it? How to be safe? How are two guys supposed to not get pregnant?" Bokuto's last obvious joke earned a smack on the back of the head from Kuroo.

"You all are virgin prudes," Tendou teased, sticking his tongue out at all of them. "Waka-chan and I have been fucking since time.""Oh shut up," Sugawara scowled, kicking him on the side of his thigh. "We don't want to hear about your weird sex life. Wakatoshi-kun probably just does what you say all the time."

Asahi never particularly hated the topic of sex, but talking about it out loud was always so embarrassing. He could never understand how all of them could talk about it without heating up or turning a different shade.  
It was impossible! Asahi couldn't say too much out loud!

"Did you ever get 'the talk'?" Sugawara asked everyone with a small smirk, Asahi also noticing that Semi was joining the conversation as well. "What're you guys talking about?" Semi asked as he dragged his seat over. "'The talk'," Kuroo snickered, scooting over to give Semi space to join. "Your parents give it to you?"

They all went silent as they thought over it, Bokuto humming, Tendou tapping his fingers on the desk and Kuroo's eyes wandering around as he was in deep thought. Asahi knew his answer right away, but he couldn't say it.

"I think?" Semi said first. "I mean, they gave me books. I think.""I think my dad was about to give me the talk, but then I got a boyfriend," Kuroo said with a soft nod. "So he didn't know how to approach that."  
"You started dating Kenma last year though," Bokuto pointed out with an emphatic tone. "You mean to tell me he waited till you were 15 to give you a sex talk?""Better than never though!" Sugawara stated. "My parents didn't even try, they just assumed that I knew how babies were made. You know, porn was what taught me what to do. And I've been watching straight people porn since 13."

Asahi stiffened as they got into a heated discussion about sex talks that quickly transitioned into what porn they watched and magazines they read. How Tendou always had a thing for muscular guys and was delighted when Ushijima found his magazines in his room and started exercising more. How Kuroo wasn't into porn until Kenma expressed sexual interest and he tried to watch it to get a better idea of what he needed to do. How Semi has tried multiple times to jerk off before at home but he never knew what to do so gave up half the time. Such vulgar conversation that Asahi didn't participate in.

"What about you, Asahi-kun?" Sugawara finally asked, all of them looking over at a sweating Asahi who hasn't spoken since the beginning of class. "Ah, Azumane isn't the type," Tendou chuckled, hitting Asahi on the back way too hard for his liking. "He probably hasn't even seen a dick that wasn't his before!" Kuroo and Bokuto told Tendou to stop it, but was it that weird that he was correct?

"I mean," Asahi coughed a few times, his cheeks rising in temperature and turning a deep shade of red as the questions started to come up from all of them. "Surely you and Noya-kun did something. He's like, horny all the time!"  
"I wouldn't say that either. He is energetic though."  
"Eh, don't force Asahi to talk about something he doesn't want to! Look at him, he's squirming!"

Asahi was squirming, but not for the reasons everyone else was thinking. At their age, sex wasn't off the table as a conversation topic, and apparently wasn't off he table as a way to pass the time if you had a significant other.   
Has Nishinoya been pent up all this time? Why didn't he say anything to Asahi?

Actually, if Asahi thought about it, Nishinoya has probably indicated interest in things like that before and wasn't the type to shy away about what he wanted, so thinking about it he did find himself remembering times that might have been Nishinoya's message to Asahi that he wanted to get a little more closer in their relationship. Ah, now Asahi felt a weird amount of both guilt and stupidity in his stomach.

"I don't think-""Leave him alone, guys," Bokuto said, waving his hand in front of Asahi's face and shaking his head. "Can't you see he's uncomfortable? Let's stop talking about this already," Bokuto managed somehow to tame a bunch of horny teenagers with just a few words, the topic going from sex talks to what their favourite books were (Tendou had a very loud opinion about how mangas should count as books).

Even though Bokuto probably meant well, Asahi didn't necessarily wanted the topic to change. He was just being a bit shy about it. The more they moved on from the topic though, the more awkward it was to bring it up and now Asahi missed his chance to ask any questions about what he should be doing with Nishinoya to show interest in getting intimate. Questions Asahi would rather ask them before asking his parents and way before asking Nishinoya himself.

Maybe one day, but right now Asahi decided to just let the thought float out into the air for a later date to worry about.

"Do you know what happened to Yamaguchi's pet Phoenix?"  
"You mean Fireball? He wasn't Yamaguchi's, he was the Minister's. Yamaguchi was just looking after it. Minister probably made him or something since he knows Yamaguchi is a sucker for magical creatures."

Asahi was silently listening to the conversations of others - 'others' being Kuroo and Bokuto of course - while he tried to immerse himself in one of Tendou's 'JUMP' mangas after Osahi expressed her interests in them. Tendou was a bit too excited that Asahi asked to borrow them to read for a bit, but it seemed that there was more interesting things to focus on and Asahi stopped reading mid page.

"I think," Kuroo shrugged as he paused for a moment, unsure what to say. "I mean, I _think_ Fireball went back to the Minister. I hopes so or else Yamaguchi will be very surprised one day when he wakes up and a big ass Phoenix is next to him." Bokuto laughed at Kuroo's sarcastic commentary, but Asahi had a stomach feeling that Kuroo wasn't exactly joking around despite sounding like he was trying to lighten the conversation.

"I can't imagine the Minister having a pet Phoenix though," Bokuto said after calming his laughter down a bit. "Like, aren't Phoenixes supposed to be good?""Not necessarily," Kuroo answered, shaking his head. "It all depends on the owner, of course."

Asahi didn't know how much more of the conversation he could handle even though he wasn't even participating in it. He decided it was time to go on a walk though instead, standing up and leaving the JUMP on the floor, trusting no one would steal it. He just felt like a bit of fresh air was going to help his light head fill up a bit, maybe with some deeper thoughts about why the heck Yamaguchi was asked to take care of a Phoenix during his stay here.

Outside, however, was just as bad as inside. 

"Over here! Kick it over here-" Hinata was in mid yell as he tripped over nothing, falling face first on the ground. The 3rd and 4th years were playing a pitiful game of soccer with the same broken, deflated ball they were given at the beginning of the year.   
But somehow, they made it fun with their uplifting spirits and imagination, the game of broken soccer escalating to an intense, actually enjoyable looking time.

So Asahi didn't stay outside. The amount of sweaty boys and screaming voices made Asahi even more nauseous than when he came out. Before anyone could ask if he wanted to join, Asahi was already walking back inside the building, trying to find another quiet place for himself.

He tried the cafeteria area as well, wanting to see if he could find some peace there but was quickly proven wrong as he watched Lev and Terushima jumping around, yelling at each other that 'the cockroach went that way'. Their feet didn't touch the ground once and the whole time they were panicking, frantically looking down in a cold sweat.   
"I told you to kill it when it was on you!"  
"That was a perfect time to hit me! Why didn't you?"

Asahi left, not feeling like telling them that the cockroach scurried out of the room when Asahi opened the doors.

That left Asahi roaming the narrow halls with slow paced steps, just wanting to find a tranquil space to mellow in his thoughts. A place where he wouldn't be crushed by the weight of liability or worries that he always left for the future. Even though it was almost like it was in his nature to worry, Asahi didn't necessarily _want_ to worry all the time. It just happened. Someone told him it was the effect of having three sisters in his life, but he was pretty sure whether he had siblings or not wouldn't have changed whether or not he would have become a worrier. It was more of a personal thing rather.  
It become so prominent, however, that it did have an effect on relationships. And Asahi wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing just yet.

"Asahi!" A familiar voice called out from behind him, Asahi turning around and greeting his fellow classmate with a small smile. "Hi Satori-kun!"

After becoming good friends with Ushijima, anyone was game for who Asahi could be friends with. And how was it so impossible to be friends with Ushijima's boyfriend? If anything, that made sense!

"Did ya finish those mangas?" Tendou asked excitedly, eyes shining as he came beside Asahi and linked their arms together, walking down the hallway now. Asahi didn't protest. 

"Not yet," Asahi answered truthfully, making Tendou let go, sagging beside Asahi and letting out a disappointed sigh. "I see. No one reads JUMP these days," Tendou said, his voice filled with actual concern. "It's a dying art. Just like the renaissance." Asahi made a face, not sure how he felt about Tendou comparing cartoon-style drawings to the centuries of artistic rebirth, but it wasn't a big deal so he kept quiet.

"Ever heard of Sakura Cardcaptor?" Asahi asked, trying to pick up the conversation again when he noticed Tendou didn't continue talking like he usually did. "My sisters like that story! I enjoyed it too, and I heard they were going to make an animated versio-""Sh." Tendou put a finger to his mouth, furrowing his eyebrows down and taking Asahi's hand. It probably wasn't supposed to be as offensive as it felt.

"Oh, I was just-"  
"I said sh!" Tendou said again, pulling Asahi to the next turn of the hallway, pinning him against the wall and covering his mouth. They were awfully close, Tendou pressing his body against Asahi's, if Tendou were to take his hand away from Asahi's mouth then they would be centimetres from kissing.  
Why did people think Asahi wouldn't react by being in compromising positions like this?

"-if the explosion happened that means the students have their wands!"  
"But which students? The Minister hasn't said anything about any missing wands yet and he's been in his office a bunch of times now."  
"Is that so? Maybe there's a mole on the staff then. That stupid explosion happened too quickly! And outside of all places - that really messed up the Minister's plan. Do you know who was in charge of monitoring it?"

Asahi's eyes went wide as he heard the conversation between the two Ministry supervisors, taking a big gulp while Tendou's breathing got heavier. They were both sweating like crazy, scared they were going to get caught, wondering if they knew that two students were eavesdropping just around the corner.

"I don't know, but they're gonna be in for it! The Minister won't be happy that there's gonna be questions and all that nonsense. You know, he'll probably blow up the school himself if he's just gonna be fed up!"

This time, it was Tendou's eyes that almost popped out of it's sockets. And Asahi could pick up what they were putting down quite nicely too, so they were both on the same page when it came to understanding what they were hearing.

The Minister was planning to blow up all the students inside the school.

It would explain why there have been less and less staff around these days. Kuroo was reassuring everyone that it was because no one cared about them right now and it was actually an upside since they didn't have to worry about following too many rules. They still had a bad time, but all the seniors would tell the rest of them that they still had each other. It seemed the Minister didn't even want them to have community at this point, and would rather all the muggle borns _dead_ than anything.

"Ah, he's gonna do it regardless. Whether it's by order or by his own hand!" The other said, then hearing the footsteps approaching even closer, getting louder with every step. That was when, out of nowhere, Tendou took his wand out and waved them out of there.

"The Minister's _crazy_!" Tendou shouted as him and Asahi wobbled back into the boy's dorm, a little unstable from the spell but it got them out of there quickly. "Completely insane! He's got a mind of a psycho!" Tendou was still waving his wand around, the rest of the boys in the room keeping their eyes on it, their jaws dropping like it was a rare item they've never seen before. Asahi even was still shocked it was in his hands.

"Uh, yeah," Bokuto said with a shrug. "We all knew that."

"No-!" Tendou groaned in frustration, face palming. Asahi didn't even notice that Bokuto and Kuroo had almost no effect when they saw Tendou's wand waving around in his hand. Almost like they knew he had it all along.

"No, he wanted to kill us! Like, _actually_ kill us. Deceased! Not breathing! _Gone_."

The 1st years didn't take it all that well, believing Tendou right away (not that great of advice, by the way) and exploding in an array of whimpers and screams and whines. Bokuto was the first to get up and try and calm them down, telling them that Tendou was just messing with them.  
Of course, Tendou just had to emphasize his point by pointing his wand at them and shaking his head. "I'm telling the truth! The Minister wants us all dead. Asahi heard with me!" Tendou looked behind him at Asahi, nodding his head. "Didn't you, Asahi?"

Everyone's eyes all of a sudden was on the Hufflepuff. Did the room get colder? Was a window open? Because something had to explain why Asahi was shivering. All of them - no need for emphasis on all - were staring at Asahi, waiting for him to answer. Most of them were probably waiting for Asahi to say something like 'he's lying' or 'don't believe him'. But when Asahi's mouth opened to tell that lie, his mouth went dry and his throat closed up, unable to do it.

There was no benefit in lying about this. Even though it was terrifying and horrendous to even comprehend the fact that someone in such a high position was wishing death upon them, there was no use sugar coating it.  
If they were in the dark about it the whole time, then no one was going to make it out alive.

"It's true," Asahi's mouth moved without his consent, but he didn't mind one bit. "The explosion that happened the other day was held by the Minister. Things didn't go according to plan though and he only blew up the outside part though, so..."

There were gasps, unsure murmurs and scared faces all around the room, and for a brief, brief moment Asahi wondered if it was the right decision to tell the truth. The more there was talk, the more he realized that in fact yes, it was the right decision. Because now, everyone was more aware than ever.

"The explosion made me wash my sweater," he heard Hinata murmur from the corner, angrily staring at the ground. "So annoying." There was a bit more conversation happening all around the room, the seniors watching to see what they could do to calm everyone down.

"Okay, everyone!" Kuroo called out, getting everyone's attention and standing next to Tendou and Asahi. Bokuto stayed on the ground, calming people down while Sugawara stood up as well, whispering in Tendou's ear, probably questions about what happened.

"This is big news, obviously. But we can't let it get to our head-""Are we gonna die?" A first year asked without letting Kuroo finish, understandably so too. His eyes were watering up and he was crawling forward tiredly, probably so done with his first year as a Hogwarts students. "I don't wanna die! I-I'll go back to muggle school, but I don't want to-""No one's dying," Bokuto went over to him, patting his back reassuringly. "No one's going to do anything. And if they try something, well, the seniors are here to protect you, right?" Bokuto grinned confidently, ruffling the first year's hair and chuckling a bit, probably to lighten the mood. "We're going to be fine."

Asahi's anxiety was spiking to levels he didn't even know were possible, way more than thinking about Nishinoya with a dementor or how his sisters would be at Hogwarts in just a few years without Asahi there to take of them.  
Everyone's life was at risk right now. Everyone was in danger and there were no trusting adults around to help them out. Everything right now, their decisions, their opinions, their plans, were up to them and their lives depended on it.

That wasn't fair at all.

"We have to be smart," Sugawara said, crossing his arms. "We can't act rashly. Whatever we want to do from now on needs to be discussed between all of us. There's no room for selfishness." Everyone seemed to be agreeing as they silenced themselves, mellowing out in their thoughts and in their own bubbles. Asahi couldn't blame anyone. If there was a time to be considerate it was now. No one wanted to see anyone suffering.

"We all have someone waiting for us back home, right?" Asahi's voice came out even though he wasn't planning to say anything at all. Kuroo seemed as surprised as Asahi was. "Thinking about that person, think about what it is you want to do from now on. How you want to be apart of this. Because I-I think that, uhm, I mean," Asahi gulped when he realized just how many of them were looking at him for word of encouragement, expecting.

That was when Tendou patted his back, Asahi looking over and seeing him give a firm, encouraging nod to continue on. Asahi nodded back.

"We all do have a part in this. It-It doesn't matter if our names aren't in textbooks or if we're not documented. Because that one person waiting for us back home is going to get sick of waiting and will start doing something too. Already twice the power and all we needed was dedication." There were a few short nods that Asahi took as a good sign. "What I'm trying to say is that even though this is scary and we don't want to do this and it's probably easier to hide and not do anything right now and just give up-" Kuroo cleared his throat to make sure Asahi didn't get too into detail. Asahi let out a nervous laugh and nodded, clearing his throat too.

"Even though it's much easier to just accept what the Ministry is giving, the right thing to do is to step up and prove them wrong. Because no one deserves to be treated like this.""Yeah!" Bokuto cheered, pumping a fist up. "Let the world watch us if they want! We're going to be making a new one anyway!"

A few others joined with Bokuto, giving Asahi a time to breath. It was a lot, and he wasn't even sure if he believed his words himself. Now he had to because he said them, but also because they were true.

"If the Minister wants to throw his all at us," Tendou grinned, his eyes gleaming in an odd excitement that Asahi envied as he stroked the side of his wand with his fingertips oh so slowly. Asahi still had to ask how he got that back.

"Then isn't it only polite to catch?"

_Asahi-san,_

_Guess who!! It feels so good to write to you again, especially when I started to read from you! I didn't think you would be able to after Halloween, but Keiji-kun says you guys found a good way to send these letters. Hopefully your guys's plans aren't too mixed up with the Minister, because I can't imagine another week not knowing how you are. I'm glad though, I tried writing as much as I could...  
You know that's hard for me though. Right?_

_There's so many things I want to tell you though, I'm embarrassed it took me this long. Ever since Halloween when I got my memory back, Oikawa-san has been helping me with my Muggle Movement (Oikawa-san gave me the name!). It's been really hard, especially because of the Slytherins, but Oikawa-san got to them and I think we're making progress! Kuroo-san's dad came over and he's helping the Minister too. Isn't that cool?_

_And Tsukishima's dad joined in! He's a big lawyer at the Ministry so he'll be a big help. Apparently. According to Kenma at least. Speaking of Kenma, I met his mom recently. Apparently she's head of the Muggle Studies department. I didn't even know that was a thing! But Kenma told me it didn't mean she worked at Hogwarts specifically, it was for all wizarding schools and job fields that she specializes in. Still, it was weird finding out. Kenma seemed like he didn't have a lot of interest in muggles until Kuroo-san was involved. How is everyone, by the way? It's okay if you don't answer that question though, everyone else who gets letters tells me anyway..._

_I was very sad when you didn't come back with the other students like Iwaizumi-san, but I knew why. I was mad at first, especially because Oikawa-san was even happier, but ever since we became friends I couldn't help but feel happy for him too. Kind of like seeing Tanaka feel better for being at home and became more grateful for things, it just made me more determined to get you out of there. So don't worry too much, Asahi-san. You won't be waiting for too much longer!_

_Speaking of Iwaizumi-san and Oikawa-san, did you know their parents are on high scales? Thanks to Iwaizumi-san we were able to get a five minute meeting with some of the authorities in the Ministry of Magic! Not the Minister or anything, I have no idea what he's up to, but some people under him! Did you know Oikawa-san's sister is a president? I don't know what she does, but Daichi-san said she's really, really important to the Council!_

_I didn't know Yamaguchi's parents were Aurors. Did you? His character seems very different from what Auror children would be like. Then again, he's the first person I know related to Aurors, so maybe it's not my specialty.  
Anyway, Yamaguchi's parents are planning to do an inspection of the Ministry and it's building to see if there was any Dark Magic used to enchant or charm any of the staff or clients. Isn't that cool? I hope they find something!  
_

_My mom said she would visit too. The separation at Beauxbatons ended earlier and she said she would come to support us here at Hogwarts. I don't know how that's going to work since they're not the same school, but I suppose Beauxbatons did something right that now they're living an exciting life. Hopefully she won't embarrass me too much though. She already scolds me enough in her letters to me._

_That reminds me! We're all going to meet Tobio-kun's sister too! Isn't that weird? I had no idea he had a sister and apparently she's a lot older. I wonder what she's like. If she's anything like Tobio-kun then that will be very funny! I wish you were here to laugh with me!  
She's a journalist and has been analyzing muggles in Paris recently. Her findings were crucial to the case of muggle injustice here so she's going to report to Oikawa-san's sister. I heard that her and Tsukishima's brother have been working together, but I don't know if that's true. That'd be something!_

_I miss you a lot. I had to write that at least once, but I want to say it a million times. I can't though because my hand will hurt. So I'll do my best and work my hardest to get you back home so I can say it to your face a million times and tell you I love you a million times more. I promise you, when I get you out of there the world will be different._

_And we'll be different too!_

_I love you, Asahi-san. You won't be waiting too long._

_Your Noya_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter for Bokuto's birthday, I guess haha! I should've waited till today to post Bokuto's birthday but then it would've been a long time! School is a bit...ah.
> 
> Creator recs! :
> 
> |Truly, Madly, Deeply in Love Series by BrittleDame - Semi x Shirabu. Rare pairs need to be given more late, especially ones like this. I actually didn't really pay attention to this ship (I don't judge though!) but when I read this I kept smiling! Especially knowing Shirabu's character and Semi's - adorable! It is a series and right now there's 3 works! 
> 
> |komoru_shop - An Instagram account that likes to take fanarts/screen caps and turn it into stickers and other stationary! It's adorable and they aren't the only shop I like, but they do deserve some more love!
> 
> That's it for now! Hope you guys are doing okay and staying safe. Please look out for yourselves and your loved ones and don't stress too much! I can't wait to see you guys in the next chapter (づ￣ ³￣)づ


	48. Iwaizumi

Date : November 27 1997

Time : 6:47 PM

Current Location : Slytherin Dormitory

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"Ow, Iwa-chan! It hurts, stop it!"  
"Quit squirming around then! You're the one who wanted to be the bottom!"  
"Because it doesn't suit Iwa-chan to be on the bottom. I was doing it for you!"

It's been a good thirty minutes and Iwaizumi and Oikawa have been in the same awkward position. Though it wasn't ideal, the knowledge that no one was going to walk into their room spontaneously and ruin a romantic moment was enough for Iwaizumi and Oikawa to have a few thoughts, an idea or two, that they just couldn't resist. Except, this was their first time and neither of them had thought this far ahead.

"It hurts!" Oikawa said again, pushing away Iwaizumi's fingers from his lower half, but Iwaizumi kept himself stable there, not allowing Oikawa to push away so easily. "I didn't even do anything!" Iwaizumi gritted his teeth. "All I did was put lotion. You're being dramatic.""It hurts! Quit it already."

Finally, after screaming at each other instead of for each other, Iwaizumi gave up, flopping down beside a panting Oikawa despite not even doing anything major, his hand smeared with lotion all sticky and gross. Iwaizumi noticed neither of them were even hard right now.

"Well," Oikawa said slowly, turning on his side to look at Iwaizumi. "That didn't go well.""Oh just shut up."

True, it was a spur of the moment and between the both of them, sex wasn't something that was high on the experience scale. They were both inexperienced in romance, no more getting intimate with another person, and if Iwaizumi thought about it porn wasn't something he indulged in and he was sure Oikawa didn't care either. Sure, there was some curiosity, but being in a wizarding school there were a lot cooler things than sex.  
Until now, that is, when Iwaizumi and Oikawa were having a heated make out session and one thing led to another and now they were both naked on the bed, disappointed with their first attempt at sex.

"I thought it would've been magical," Oikawa continued on, not listening to Iwaizumi's demand to be quiet. "I would see stars. Angels would sing. Butterflies would erupt-""Is that really what your fantasies are filled of?" Iwaizumi asked, aggressively hitting a pillow at Oikawa's face. "What are you, a girl?" Oikawa whined, taking the pillow and hitting Iwaizumi back with much lighter force before scooting over and wrapping an arm around Iwaizumi's waist.

"I just didn't think it would be difficult. I thought we would have had it figured out."

Granted, Iwaizumi assumed that as well. He thought since him and Oikawa had so much chemistry, then there would be no reason to worry because even if it didn't work they would be okay. Good thing Iwaizumi was smart though, because this was definitely discouraging and he would have given up quickly. Oikawa even looked like he was about to give up with the face he was pulling, looking up at Iwaizumi.

"We have lots of time to figure it out," Iwaizumi reassured him, turning on his side as well so they were facing each other. "If you tried and stopped complaining like a little bitch then maybe we could be successful."  
"Don't blame it all on me! This is a two person effort," Oikawa huffed out, his eyebrows furrowing in frustration that Iwaizumi couldn't help his laughter. How could Oikawa manage to look so cute in such a situation like this?

"Are you being awkward now, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa asked in a teasing voice, making Iwaizumi's expression tighten up. "You're turning all red. It's cute."

All of a sudden Iwaizumi became more self aware. How his face was heating up in embarrassment. How his body stiffened while Oikawa tightened his hug and nuzzled his face into Iwaizumi's neck. How the room was getting hotter by the second despite it being almost December and the walls didn't have the best insolation.

So out of instinct and habit, Iwaizumi hit Oikawa on the top of the head and turned around, back facing his boyfriend, and for good measure, he pulled the blanket up so he was covered and Oikawa couldn't see while Iwaizumi died slowly from shame. This was so weird and so new, the feeling of being embarrassed in front of _Oikawa_ of all people. They've went through worse situations before so what was so different now?

"Aw, come on, Iwa-chan," Iwaizumi could hear Oikawa moving closer to him in a taunting motion. If Iwaizumi were to have moved further on the bed he would surely fall down and plummet into even more embarrassment. "It's fine, you know? Iwa-chan being the cute one in the relationship. I can give away my spot once in a while." Iwaizumi scowled, flipping the blanket off of him, about to yell at Oikawa that this wasn't the time to tease and laugh.

At the very moment Iwaizumi came out from the blanket, soft lips pressed against his and he didn't have to shout.

"I'm so happy right now," Oikawa said with a blissful sigh, smiling widely at Iwaizumi, returning to their previous position where Oikawa hugged Iwaizumi tightly, face hidden in the crook of his neck that was ticklish but he resisted squirming so Oikawa could stay comfortable. "Even if we couldn't do it. I'm so happy."

Call Iwaizumi selfish, but he was happy too. An inexplainable, insanely euphoric surge of lightening went down every molecule in Iwaizumi's body when he really thought about what was happening right now. His whole being melted with Oikawa, and no they weren't connected or 'one' right now, but it sure felt like nothing else could bring them closer. Iwaizumi wasn't just happy right now - he was complete.

But then, every few moments or so, he would remember being back at that other school. The school where there were still _students_ at and still experiencing the suffering Iwaizumi had to go through too.  
Well, partially. He knew what the real suffering was going to be, so maybe Iwaizumi didn't exactly relate the same. But didn't that make it even worse? Iwaizumi was laying down here, happy and without a worry on his pretty little head while Sugawara and Tendou were wondering when their next meal was going to be served. For all Iwaizumi knew, the situation probably got worse when the pure bloods left.

"What are you thinking about?" Oikawa asked quietly, Iwaizumi didn't even notice that Oikawa left his place in Iwaizumi's neck and was now looking up at him. "You look frustrated. What's wrong?"

A time and a half ago maybe Iwaizumi would've told Oikawa not to worry about it because it was Iwaizumi's problem. Iwaizumi wouldn't want Oikawa to get involved in something that didn't have to do with Oikawa because he didn't want that chance of disappointment when Oikawa told him he couldn't do it. Iwaizumi wouldn't want Oikawa to realize just how troubling Iwaizumi was and change his mind about being with him.

Things now though, were obviously different.

"The muggle borns," Iwaizumi answered softly, moving one of Oikawa's hair tuffs out from his eyes and leaning down to kiss his forehead. "What's going on with them." Oikawa didn't say anything for a moment, most likely trying to find an appropriate response to that answer. 

"We're going to do everything we can," Oikawa said reassuringly, giving Iwaizumi a firm nod and moving up so that their heights were more accurate, Oikawa looking down at Iwaizumi, just barely but Iwaizumi knew that one inch difference was there. "We're helping. I know it's a slow process, but it's going to be like this if we're going to do it the right way. We don't have room to fight anymore, so," Oikawa took Iwaizumi's hand, intertwining their fingers together. "Don't worry on your own. Because I'm here too."

Silence tensed around them, but nothing was awkward. Iwaizumi understood, Oikawa looked relieved and for now, without saying anything else, Iwaizumi hugged Oikawa back.

"Muggle born injustice! Where have all the textbooks gone? Bring Muggle Studies back already! It's important to our wo-o-o-orld!!"

Iwaizumi didn't ask why Oikawa was so excited to see Nishinoya literally wearing a sign with big, red, bold letters that said 'Muggle Born Injustice SUCKS' on the front and probably something on the back that Iwaizumi couldn't see yet. 

"Oikawa-san!" Nishinoya greeted with a bright smile, the sign hanging from his neck wagging and bumping on his chest every time he moved. Where did Nishinoya even get these toys from? "You made it just in time! Headmaster Akaashi is coming back today so we're sure to have the Board's attention. What do you think, Oikawa-san?" Nishinoya, out of nowhere, took out another big wearable sign, shoving it towards Oikawa's chest. "You want to wear this one?"

Out of habit and natural reaction, Iwaizumi was about to pull Oikawa back so that he didn't say anything rude or lunge at Nishinoya to tell him he was stupid. Instead of lashing out, however, Oikawa took the sign, holding the neck hole over his head and slipping it on. On Oikawa, it didn't look like a very big wearable sign anymore. It looked like how it was supposed to look, just a normal rectangle covering his chest with the words 'Bring The Muggle Borns Back'.  
Obviously, to Iwaizumi, the size of the sign wasn't the most shocking thing right now.

"Where's Ryuu-kun?" Oikawa asked casually, as if he was always on a first name basis with the 5th year Gryffindors. "He's doing his part outside!" Nishinoya answered with a big smile, giving Oikawa a stack of flyers Iwaizumi could have sworn Daichi confiscated earlier that year, then looked over at Iwaizumi and motioned to another stack. "Is Iwaizumi-san joining us as well?" Oikawa turned to look at Iwaizumi, an eager and ecstatic Nishinoya behind him with an expectant expression on his face. 

"Of course Iwa-chan is joining us!" Oikawa answered for him, taking Iwaizumi's hand with a wide smile as he nodded his head firmly. "He wants this to be resolved as much as we do."

Which wasn't a lie, Iwaizumi did want to do something for his muggle born friends, get them out of the school and change the world. It was a bit difficult however, when Oikawa wasn't telling him what was happening and just dragged him with Nishinoya, standing shyly behind the wooden stand Nishinoya set up whenever he had time, and surprisingly, Oikawa was actually participating actively.

"There's a rally today," Nishinoya said to both Oikawa and Iwaizumi, more like a reminder than some new news that Iwaizumi certainly hasn't heard before. "Outside the school. Ryuu wanted to lead it but Daichi-san stepped in."  
"Classic Sawamura-kun," Oikawa said playfully, rolling his eyes. "Always wants to be the centre of attention."

Iwaizumi didn't necessarily think that way of Daichi, but before he could make a face at Oikawa, Oikawa was already holding his hand, moving him along the sudden crowd in the hallway so that they were at the front. Where did all these other students come from?

"Kunimi?" Iwaizumi asked in obvious shock that he found him here in this big crowd, going outside of the school where apparently a big rally was happening that Iwaizumi, by the way, _just_ found out about. "Wha-What are you-""Oh, Iwaizumi-san," Kunimi blinked at him, giving him a short nod. "Didn't see you there. Lots of people, you know. Quite crowded."  
"You're so nice to Iwa-chan but then you look at me like I'm a piece of garbage.""Because you are a piece of-" Kunimi all of a sudden stopped talking and when Iwaizumi looked behind Kunimi and saw Kindaichi pinching his side.

"You're a piece of shit too," Kunimi huffed, turning and slapping Kindaichi's hand away before linking arms with him. It was a bit clear that Iwaizumi was missing just a little something after not being here for quite a while despite his return for almost a month.   
He thought that he had everything figured out, but it looked like it was just the beginning.

"Was this planned?" Iwaizumi asked as they picked up the pace. Well, Oikawa picked it up, Iwaizumi was just being dragged along. "Yes...and no," Oikawa said with a bit of hesitation that wasn't assuring at all to Iwaizumi. "We did plan this, we just didn't know when it was going to happen," Oikawa answered with a nervous chuckle, making Iwaizumi grit his teeth. Did Oikawa know nothing about the dangers of spontaneous protesting rallies?

"Don't worry so much, Iwa-chan! We have this all under control!"

And even though Iwaizumi didn't believe - _couldn't_ believe it - when they stepped outside, everything _was_ under control. There was an organized group of four sectioned off students in rows, their bright colours on their uniform ties indicating which house was where. You could tell there was something off with how concentrated the Slytherin house was with students, but Iwaizumi was more intrigued by the fact that Tanaka had a drum on his stomach, banging it loudly with a stick.

"HE-E-E-E-Y-O-O-O-O!!" Tanaka screamed into his wand, amplifying his voice so loudly that the tree leaves and branches moved like in the wind. Iwaizumi went deaf for a good forty seconds.

"What is..." Iwaizumi wasn't able to finish the question because before he knew it the reason why this was happening was already being revealed. From across the field there was reporters - and not just any reporters.  
From around the world, it looked like, telling from their wardrobes and their models of wands and devices used to record what was happening on Hogwarts property. The French flag was painted on some of the brooms that a few of the wizards had, and if Iwaizumi leaned in he could hear the soft mutters of French and German mixing together. At least he thought so until Korean was thrown in the mix and all of a sudden he wasn't sure.

"Where did they come fro-""Nee-chan!" A familiarly deep voice gruffed out behind Iwaizumi, making him turn to see the commotion. 

"Aw, come on, Tobio-chan," an older female who looked very similar to Kageyama minus bob-cut and the body shape, looked to be squeezing Kageyama in a hug, wrapping her slender arms around his neck and kissing his head. "I haven't seen you in so long. Give your older sister a hug already.""I gave you one already! Now let go! You're chocking me!" Iwaizumi's eyes widened when he realized who it was, quickly turning away for no particular reason other than he felt like he saw something he shouldn't have.

"I told you to quit following me already."  
"Are you still mad? I'm here now, aren't I? C'mon, Kei-chan, look at me-""Don't call me that!"

Iwaizumi turned to see another sibling quarrel, and this time a less surprising pissed off Tsukishima that had an older version of him following him around the crowd. "Kei-chan, c'mon.""I'm not in the mood," Tsukishima scowled, quickening his pace, Iwaizumi assumed he was trying to lose his brother to the groups of people, but it was sort of hard considering Tsukishima was one of the few blonds at Hogwarts right now.

"I thought you needed me?"  
"No," Tsukishima responded immediately, finally turning around just to glare at his brother. "I needed your status. Not you. So," Tsukishima snuffed, turning around and stomping off into the distance, and it seemed his brother was slowly giving up.

"Where did they all come from?" Iwaizumi finally got the chance to ask as him and Oikawa made it to the front of the line of Slytherins. And Iwaizumi could be fooled, but Oikawa looked rather pleased with the turnout.

"Isn't it great!" Oikawa shouted over the crowd, the reporters and news letterers gathering around the students, taking captures of them with their signs, interviewing the ones at the front (notably most of them were aiming for Daichi) and charming moments to remember when in need of reference.  
It was...for lack of better words - chaotic.

Just like Nishinoya and Oikawa combined.

"Remember? You were apart of the planning for this, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa reminded him, nudging his elbow to Iwaizumi's side. "This is your doing too!" Iwaizumi wasn't sure how to take it because he wasn't sure yet how proud he was of this moment. Just a bunch of commotion, a lot of people. It was more of a zoo like atmosphere than a revolutionary protest. He wasn't sure how to look at it.

"But to be honest," Oikawa started saying slowly, nodding his head over at Nishinoya who was being interviewed by Kageyama's sister - who's name Iwaizumi briefly remembered as 'Miwa' - excitedly expressing what was happening and what they were doing to make this happen. What was the cause of this, the point and what they wanted the result to be. Iwaizumi did notice, Nishinoya was the most serious he's ever been.

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa called out softly, but surprisingly, he wasn't looking at Iwaizumi. Instead, he was looking up at the sky, squinting. "If this does what it's supposed to - if muggle born wizards and muggles are treated fairly after this," Oikawa looked down, his regular smile faintly behind his distant look.

"Do you think our lives will change too?"

Honestly, Iwaizumi didn't know the answer to that. Because until now, Iwaizumi did think their lives would change. If tomorrow Sugawara and Semi and Tendou were in their dorms again, if Asahi was back to shyly being beside Nishinoya in the hallways, if Kuroo and Bokuto were back to their stupid antics and getting into their regular messes, surely Iwaizumi's life would change. However, the more he thought about it, the more complex his answer became.  
Iwaizumi's life is nothing but filled with magic. He used it to solve problems, was planing to pursue a career where magic was his legacy, and didn't think once he would ever need a muggle's help to do anything. So why would Iwaizumi's life changed if a few more people in this world were treated as good as Iwaizumi and Oikawa had it?

"I think so," Iwaizumi finally answered, nodding his head. "I know so."

The answer Iwaizumi had and all that he needed - because it was the right thing to do.

"Tooru-chan!" 

An excited, shrilly voice called out from across the field and Iwaizumi knew it right away. He tried letting go of Oikawa so he could run, but Oikawa's grip only tightened, giving him a look before turning and using his other arm to spread open for a wide hug.

"Nee-chan!" Oikawa called out excitedly, making Iwaizumi grimace as his right arm was pulled harshly in a half hug with Oikawa and his sister. It wasn't that Iwaizumi didn't like Oikawa's sister or anything.  
He just really preferred not to bother with all of these formalities.

"And-woah," Oikawa's sister - 'Tomoyou _nee-san_ ' - looked over at Iwaizumi and cupped his cheeks with both hands. "Haji-chan, is that _you_?" Her jaw dropped in the most over exaggerated way that scarily reminded Iwaizumi of Oikawa. "Just look at you! You're so big now. You two are growing so much," she wrapped her arms around Iwaizumi's body and squeezed him in the tightest grip ever, Iwaizumi thought he was going to pop.

"Ah, seriously, stop growing! You two even still hold hands with each other. Adorable," she laughed, and Iwaizumi was going to inform her that there was a reason but she didn't let him. "Wow! What. A. Turnout," she said with an approving nod, looking back at Oikawa with a grin. "You really did something here, didn't you, Tooru-chan? But what can I expect from my younger brother, hm?"

Oikawa blushed, humbling fanning his hand over and rolling his eyes. "Oh, it was nothing!" Oikawa said with a laugh, but you could tell he was really proud as well of the outcome, especially with the way he was basically glowing. It was okay, once in a while, to be proud of something amazing you did. "Is Takeru not here?""He's 8, Tooru. What do you want him to do here at a rally?"

Sometimes, Iwaizumi forgot what position Oikawa's older sister was exactly in. When he finally got the full picture he noticed the dress suit she was wearing, the clipboard and quill tucked under her arm and her wand in her hand, ready to do a spell or charm wherever, whenever. She had an entourage just behind her, taking down notes as well, all in black suits and sunglasses, murmuring different things, and a few house elves at her feet. Did she really need all that support around her? Iwaizumi may never know.

"Where's your little friend then, hm? The one you told me about," Tomoyou asked, looking around and squinting her eyes and for a moment, Iwaizumi thought she was talking about _him_. Oikawa would never let him forget their one inch difference.

"Ah, nee-san, I'm right-""Here he is!" Oikawa said proudly, letting go of Iwaizumi and using both hands to grab Nishinoya from Kageyama Miwa, boasting brightly to his sister. "Nishinoya Yuu! Noya-kun, this is my sister. The Council President," Oikawa said, making Nishinoya freeze with wide eyes, smiling in a creepy way that Iwaizumi has never seen before. Miwa seemed shocked that the interview was cut short, but when she saw Tomoyou it was clear even she knew the presence she was in.

"N-N-Nice to meet you!" Nishinoya said, sputtering out nervously that Iwaizumi couldn't help but laugh. Because Tomoyou to Iwaizumi wasn't the President - no, she was the older sister of his childhood friend that poked her nose in their room from time to time, did their hair and insisted to sew dresses on them to practice. She was a bit annoying, basically a sister Iwaizumi never had, and no way was she professional all the time.

So seeing someone as carefree as Nishinoya worked up over someone like Tomoyou. Iwaizumi couldn't hold in the amusement.

"Oi!" Kageyama (Tobio this time) came up to Oikawa (Tooru) and took Nishinoya back aggressively, holding his arm. "My sister wasn't done with his interview! Give him back!" Nishinoya was yanked towards Kageyama, the 4th year glaring at Oikawa with cold eyes.

"Oh?" Oikawa raised an eyebrow at Miwa, then looked at his own sister, probably about to say something obnoxious like 'is _your_ sister the president though?'. To Iwaizumi's surprise, he did not say that.

"Sorry. I didn't know," Oikawa said, bowing slightly to Miwa. "You can finish your interview."  
"No, no, I'm done now," Miwa said quickly with a smile, taking her younger brother by the arm and wrapping herself around his shoulder. "He's just being excited right now. Thank you for talking with me, Yuu-kun!" Miwa said, ruffling Nishinoya's hair. "I'll be sure to publish this as soon as I can after I run through it with my editors, so," Miwa smiled down at him. "I think I'll go interview Ryuunosuke-kun now. I'll see you guys later!"

Kageyama scowled at Oikawa, but let go of Nishinoya, bowing down to all of them though. Contrary to popular belief, Kageyama still had manners and could act proper. To Iwaizumi's knowledge, he was just awkward.

"Hello, President-san. It's such an honour to meet you!" Miwa said to Tomoyou, not hiding her eagerness, the way her breath swayed and her eyes sparkled looking down at her. "Is it alright if I ask you a few questions about this movement?"  
"Of course!" Tomoyou said automatically, standing a little straighter, putting on a bright smile as cameras started flashing around her. "Oh," she said almost right after the first flash happened, making Miwa flinch. "Did you want to go somewhere more private to do it? I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

This was where Iwaizumi understood more where Oikawa got his gentle side from. Though no one believed he had one (they all called it his 'sensitive side') Iwaizumi was one of the few people that actually insisted it existed. He had to convince several people behind Oikawa's back that the words he said weren't meant to offend, that it was just a mask, that he was raised that way.  
Unfortunately, not many people believed such things.

"Is that okay?" Miwa said softly, flinching again as another flash of a camera stifled her, Tomyou nodding and taking her by the elbow, her body guards surrounding them so that the reporters and crew couldn't get a good shot of them. 

Once in a while, ever so rarely, did someone come along and believe that the good in Oikawa was there and made up more of him than you could ever see.

"Oikawa-san!" Nishinoya called out from across the field, the big sign still proudly on his chest and back hanging from his neck, but this time he also had bright red paint on his face smeared on his cheeks on chin. It should also be noted that he was in the middle of the field, not belonging to any group and just representing as the lead of this whole movement without any guidance.

"Oikawa-san! Over here!" He screeched loudly, making Iwaizumi freeze because for a second he thought that Oikawa was actually going to abandon him to go over and talk to Nishinoya about their next step. Which wasn't a bad thing, obviously, it made sense since they did plan this whole thing together. What made Iwaizumi a bit nervous though, was the fact that it was Oikawa. And he wasn't sure if he really understood what it meant for 'muggle justice'.

"C'mon, Iwa-chan," Oikawa said, quickly pulling on his arm to lead him towards Nishinoya. "I think he wants to do something."

Oikawa could study and he could observe. He could ask questions and he could support. But he wasn't involved in the muggle world, he didn't experience what they experienced. Even Nishinoya, who took a dive into their world and their life style, would never know what it really meant to _be_ a muggle born. To be a muggle.   
It was what separated their support from the actual rising of injustice. It couldn't be just them.

Maybe Iwaizumi should mention that eventually.

"We're planning to wrap this thing up! We've gotten the attention of lots and lots of news reporters!" Nishinoya said excitedly, looking through the crowds with a big smile. He took his wand out, saying a quick Summoning Charm and from the distance his wand was whooshing through the sea of people and safely into Nishinoya's hand. "I think Tsukishima-kun's dad too is here to make a claim against the Minister. Hah! 'Claim'. I'm getting smarter by the day," Nishinoya beamed, mounting his broom and kicking himself off the ground. "Anyway, I'm gonna go clear this place up since the deputy headmaster's coming back in a bit. I'll see you later then, 'Kawa-san!"

Nishinoya was up and off the ground before Oikawa or Iwaizumi could wave a bye at him. True to his word, Nishinoya was getting the attention of the Hufflepuffs first (probably because they were better at listening) and started rounding them up to go inside. At the same time, the reporters and news writers were clearing up their equipment as well, discussing further on what their plans with the story were.

"I can't believe you guys organized that whole thing," Iwaizumi said in an airy breath, squeezing Oikawa's hand. "And you didn't get interviewed once."

It was an after thought, really. The whole time Iwaizumi was more focused on what was happening, on Oikawa's sweating palm that he refused to let go of because Oikawa seemed heated and nervous. At first he thought it was because of all the people who knew that Oikawa had a part in this, or because he was semi-leading the event. In the end though, Oikawa got no recognition.

"Why is that?"

There was a bit of a pause, Oikawa giving Iwaizumi a tight smile as he pulled him off to the side where there were no reporters, no family members, just him and Iwaizumi and a stone wall that covered them.

"I don't know," Oikawa shrugged, letting out a soft laugh. "I don't know...or I didn't know. Or-Or I think don't know but-" Iwaizumi stopped him, watching as Oikawa's chest started to heave up, his breath hitching after every other word and Oikawa's hands trembling.

"I-I don't know what these people are going through. But-But _you_ know Iwa-chan. It should've been you getting some questions asked, not me!"

Oikawa wasn't crying or anything, but he was overwhelmed and worked up which got Iwaizumi concerned enough. "Hey, don't say that-""It's true though," Oikawa sniffled, letting out a bitterly dry laugh. "I didn't deserve to be beside Nishinoya. He's the real one that really is making a difference."

Iwaizumi didn't admit out loud that that was what he was thinking - really, in the back of his mind far so that he wasn't even thinking it! - as well. He didn't want to also mention how Oikawa was right in the experience that he lacked while Iwaizumi watched and sort of was apart of the whole thing, how muggle borns were seen and treated and got to first handedly feel like he was outcasted.

But Oikawa's heart looked as though it were trembling and Iwaizumi needed to touch lightly so it wouldn't shatter.

"You're doing the right thing though," Iwaizumi said slowly, letting go of Oikawa because touching (to him at least) was distracting. "Your mindset and your intentions aren't in vain or selfish. You're not doing it for attention or thinking that you're in the same position. You're not doing it because of some sort of hoped recognition or-or for any other stupid reasons! You're doing this because it's the right thing to do."

Oikawa's eyes went wide as Iwaizumi's began to raise his point, all so he could get his point across. "You're doing this so that they don't have to suffer anymore. We're doing this so that if we have kids that aren't wizards or our friends get married to muggles, we don't have to watch them being discriminated against for that choice. It's something that the world needs, Oikawa. Get it through your head that you weren't chosen to do this. You decided to do it and now we're fighting for what's right. Whether it be you or a muggle born or Nishinoya," Iwaizumi huffed out, taking a deep breath.

"This is something that we all need to be apart of."

Oikawa didn't answer for a while, but he didn't need to. They both knew Iwaizumi was right, and even if it was going to be tough for all of them - _all_ of them - they weren't going down without a fight.

"What did Iwaizumi-kun even do to get sent away?" Ushijima asked, putting his book down and looking over at the Slytherin. "You are a sensible student. Your grades are high and you rarely get in trouble unless Oikawa joins you. It does not make sense why you were the one sent away, in my opinion. If anything, it should have been Oikawa.""Oi," Oikawa scowled, kicking Ushijima's shin under the desk. "Watch what you're saying while I'm here."

It wasn't just them in the library right now at the big round table in the back meant for group studies. In fact, Oikawa, Iwaizumi and Ushijima invited Daichi as well so they could study for their O.W.L.s together since they were all in the same year. Akaashi just so happened to be with Nishinoya and Kenma at the table first so they just joined in with them. Kageyama and Tsukishima were sitting not too far and were told to stop fighting right when the textbook was opened, so Daichi called them over mainly just to keep an eye on him. Yamaguchi joined in last when Iwaizumi noticed he was eyeing the group while lamely pretending to look for a book in the case coincidentally right beside theirs.

So now, all 10 of them were sitting at the table, all with different school supples in front of them, in a circle so everyone's face was in view. The same unlikely group that Iwaizumi has noticed becoming more and more frequent in each other's company.

"Yeah, Iwa-kun," Daichi added lazily, his head resting on the table, probably tired from a full day of leading the rally that day. "Why were you sent away in the first place? It doesn't seem like there's a big reason with you."

Iwaizumi fidgeted in his seat as he opened his mouth then closed it again when he was trying to find an excuse that didn't involve Oikawa since he didn't want to make it seem like it was his fault. It wasn't just Oikawa's anyway. Iwaizumi couldn't just ignore the fact that Oikawa did slightly overreact about not being in the same house on their first day at Hogwarts. But it was also Iwaizumi's fault for even bringing up the offer of switching houses.

"He was supposed to be a Ravenclaw," Oikawa said abruptly, making everyone at the table's eyes widened, including Iwaizumi's. "I threw a fit and made him switch to Slytherin. They thought it to be suspicious."

Iwaizumi could confidently say he did not think Oikawa would be able to own up to his end of the story about how he was the one who made a whole table fly across the room just to make him and Iwaizumi in the same house, or used borderline dark magic. He thought he was going to have to make up some deliberate lie that no one was going to believe, not even Iwaizumi himself. But here Oikawa was, telling the truth.  
Maybe something did happen when Iwaizumi was away.

"What?" Daichi asked in shock, sitting up straighter, taking his face off the table. "How come I don't remember this?""They obliviated everyone after it happened. Just that one memory though, the rest of the sorting should be as well kept as a 6 year memory should be," Oikawa said, giving everyone a tight smile though it was obvious that he wanted to move on from the conversation topic. "Anyway. What did you guys get for question 3?"  
"Wait," Ushijima stopped from the studying, looking between both Iwaizumi and Oikawa. "You two went against the Sorting Hat? Is that not reprehensible?""Probably is," Oikawa answered curtly. "But we have one more year here, so does it really matter?"  
"Isn't that unfair?" Akaashi added on softly, almost like he was muttering angrily but Iwaizumi couldn't tell if he actually was. "I would have enjoyed being a Gryffindor..." Oikawa's face went pale with all of the commentary on his confession, but Iwaizumi thought he should've seen it coming.

"Well now you know why you all got obliviated! So, there's that," Oikawa gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the textbook in front of him. "Now, back to question 3, okay? How do werewolves repel themselves from pixies when transformed?"  
"Wait, so if Iwaizumi-san moved houses," Tsukishima started going on, making Oikawa hold in a groan. "Does that mean there's no penalty for that? I always thought the Sorting Hat would have cursed you or something. I could be a Ravenclaw.""But you suit Slytherin a lot more, don't you," Kageyama scoffed making Tsukishima throw a crumpled up paper that Kageyama just caught while giving Tsukishima the finger.

"Let's move on from this!" Oikawa exclaimed finally, hitting the table. "This is something I told you all in confidence so I would appreciate it if we all just accept that it's happened and get on with life. I'll apologize to you all separately if I hurt your feelings somehow," Oikawa said the last part a little more sarcastically, no intention of legitimately apologizing since there was no reason to. All that was erased was a wee little memory that was insignificant in everyone else's lives.

The silence tensed around everyone, probably racking to try and think of another conversation topic that was a lot lighter and a smooth transition from what Ushijima brought up and Oikawa moved on from.

"Well then," Ushijima started saying, Iwaizumi tensing right away because he knew it was going to start a fight. "You should've come to the Ravenclaw House-"  
"You!" Oikawa jumped from his seat, his arms out and ready to strangle Ushijima but Iwaizumi caught him by the waist quickly and made him sit down again. He wasn't that impressed with the enjoyed smile Tsukishima had on his face while Kageyama's wide eyes looked over at Ushijima, almost like he wanted Ushijima to win. Ushijima didn't even flinch!

"I'm just saying," Ushijima said in a simple way that even made Iwaizumi's blood simmer. "If you wanted to be with Iwaizumi-kun so badly, a more respectable decision is to become a Ravenclaw."  
"You think I didn't ask for that?" Oikawa hissed, calming down once Iwaizumi's grip loosened, sighing softly and straightening his uniform out. "I did! But Iwa-chan had more luck as a Slytherin than I as a Ravenclaw."  
"Oh. Because of your IQ?""You-!" Oikawa launched at Ushijima once more, and Iwaizumi was quick enough again to catch him, putting him down so that they wouldn't get caught and sent away from the library. 

"Ushijima," Daichi said in a slightly scolding tone while Kageyama and Tsukishima stifled a laugh. "How do you find out your IQ?" Nishinoya asked quietly to Kenma, making Kenma shrug but there was no way Kenma didn't know.

"I'm going to kill you!" Oikawa grunted out in anger, putting up more of a fight than what Iwaizumi expected because his grip around his waist tightened. "You run your mouth any direction you want to! Do you have any consideration for feelings?""Oikawa, calm down!" Iwaizumi groaned when Oikawa started kicking harder, trying to get his hands on Ushijima, unfortunately his wand left back at the dorm. "You're making too much noise!" Oikawa let out a strangled whine, giving up and panting softly, staying on Iwaizumi's lap but glaring at Ushijima the whole time.

"I do consider your feelings," Ushijima stated. "That is why I am suggesting you be a Rave-""Don't," Daichi stopped Ushijima quickly before the argument could escalate further. Luckily, this time Ushijima didn't continue on.

This time as well did the silence drag on for a while, Iwaizumi slowly pushing a calmed down Oikawa off his lap and back into his seat while the rest of them got back to their work silently, just this time not as a group.

"I think Oikawa-san did a brave thing. With Iwaizumi-san too," Yamaguchi whispered quietly, but Iwaizumi could hear it and it seemed Oikawa could too. He perked up, his whole face brightening and soon he was grinning, pointing a finger at Yamaguchi.

"You. You're my favourite junior from now on."

Iwaizumi couldn't hold back his face palm.

_Heyo, Iwa-chan!_

_Haha, you like my nickname I gave you? I thought it was pretty cute, but I could hear your fumes of anger radiating on the paper. I won't call you that in person, obviously, or else I wouldn't be able to walk for a while. Get it? Because I'd be fucked._

_You probably noticed, but we found a way to send letters. Cool, isn't it? I bet you can guess how we've been sending them and who's sending them, but just in case I won't name any who's here. Just so you know though, we haven't gotten caught yet, and if we do then you'll be one of the first people we're calling._

_Anyway, we heard about that whole protest rally thing at Hogwarts the other day and that's why I'm throwing a letter at you. It might seem random, but don't worry, I'll be writing to you even more if you want._

_T_ _he actual reason why I had to end up writing to you though, is because after hearing about what Hogwarts did, we're planning to do something over here as well. You probably haven't been updated on the news about our humble school, but the Minister tried blowing us up. Like, killing us, blowing us up. I don't know if there's another way to interpret that, but yeah. I know, it's fucked up but I think we're well passed that by now. The Minister is psychotic, and honestly, we got lucky by having the explosion happening outside, but we still don't know much besides that. There are no adults to help us._

_I heard though, the headmaster figured out what's happening and is doing what he can. From what I hear, there is more support coming from the Ministry and the Council (Oikawa's sister is a president??) so I guess things are looking up, but I can't let my guard down for a second. I suggest that neither should you._

_How are things over there at Hogwarts for you? How have you adjusted? It must be weird, going back to normal after what you've experienced here. Even though I was a little bit jealous that you had that opportunity, I understood. It makes me more determined to work harder for myself._

_But even so, I trust that you're still the selfless Iwa-chan I know. You actually helped a lot while you were here, and I'm not just saying that in hopes that you can get us out of here. To be real, I'm thinking about just running away at this point since there's barely any Ministry members anymore, only the very few that were brave enough to stay. I'm starting think that Mr. Minister doesn't like us that much..._

_'I want to go home', is what all the juniors are saying. 'When can we eat properly again' and 'It's so cold'. So spoiled, aren't they? Wanting basic human decency and treatment. You know, one of them even said they were willing to go back to a muggle school just so that they could get out of here? I didn't know what to say, Iwa-chan. It was hard watching him. I get it though, and I'm pretty sure you do too._

_I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty or anything. Writing just makes me feel better._

_Anyway, I have a lot to do here. Hinata is screaming, Lev is crying, and I think Semi is about to murder Tendou. Don't miss us too much. When I see you again I might just kiss you._

_Haha, I'm just kidding._

_Maybe._

_Kuroo_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have said it once and I will say it again. Online school is disgusting :)
> 
> Fanfic recommendation (I'm sorry they're getting less and less, I don't have much time to enjoy content anymore unfortunately :( ) :
> 
> |Out For The Season by dead_kingsmanship - A sweet IwaOi that has a bit of angst but not that relationship drama that's in a LOT of IwaOi fanfiction. It's just general angst which I appreciated because I cannot take another unrequited love Iwaizumi (×_×;）
> 
> |Nothing Like Time by misssnowfox - A wholesome, awkward, very canon Kagehina fanfic. I love their very innocent minds getting not so innocent and learning about intimacy together >.<
> 
> That's all for now! Thank you for reading and I hope you guys have a good weekend!! See you in the next chapter XD


	49. Sugawara

Date : November 29 1997

Time : 11:43 AM

Current Location : Courtyard

Status : Mission - Accomplished

"What is this supposed to prove, by the way?" Sugawara asked Tendou beside him who was sitting on the cold grass cross legged, a big over sized sweater he stole from Lev fitting on him quite well while one of Kuroo's hats he brought lay on his spiky head and visibly squashed it down. It was almost December and all of the school was sitting outside, shivering and cold and have long forgotten why.

"T-T-To pr-pro-prove a p-p-point," Tendou shivered, obviously not used to the cold weather, or rather just didn't handle it well. His teeth were chattering and Sugawara was pretty sure Bokuto lent him a few sweaters to layer. Tendou looked like he was in an infinite ice cube though, and really, _really_ uncomfortable. There was multiple times Sugawara told him to just go back inside but Tendou proved his stubbornness unmatched when determined.

"Do you want my sweater?" Sugawara offered untethered, watching Tendou's mouth about to say 'no' but a gust of wind was pushed their direction and made Tendou shiver all over. With a defeated sigh, he nodded. "Yes please."

Sugawara took his sweater off, wrapping it tightly around Tendou's body. They weren't the same size, Tendou was much taller and skinnier than Sugawara, but Tendou let a satisfied deep sigh out when Sugawara gave him another layer, now just wearing a long sleeved shirt. Sure, it was cold, but Tendou's chattering teeth and constant mumbling about how winter was the shittiest season was much more annoying. 

"Shouldn't we be doing this during class time?" Terushima asked from the back, very loudly might be noted. Sugawara closed his eyes, not wanting to answer because that's exactly what he was thinking too.

"Doesn't that make more of a statement?"  
"It's not like there are any teachers during class time," Sugawara heard Hinata mumble in reply, for some reason not at a volume he thought Hinata would be brave enough to get to . "There wouldn't have been a statement whether we banged from the top of the school."  
"Then why are we out here again?" Kogane asked, Sugawara noticing how it was all Gryffindors that just had to talk back. "If it's not proving a point, then what are we even doing?"

Kuroo on the other side of Sugawara, just let out an irritated sigh, one that Sugawara has been holding in the whole time. This was sort of a last minute plan, honestly a spur of the moment decision, when Asahi got a letter from Nishinoya and Tendou thought it would be hilarious to read it out loud in front of everyone. He wanted to quote-unquote, 'see how inappropriate the little boy could really get'.

Instead of horny fantasies though, it sparked something in Tendou and Kuroo to prompt them into doing something similar as to what was happening at Hogwarts. They couldn't get reporters or news lettermen, but they could at least walk out.

It seemed that there was a bit of a lag in the brain when they noticed 45 minutes into their 'rally' that there was no one physically there to protest against anymore.

Leaving the whole school (if you could even call it that at this point) in the cold, sitting on the hard grassy dirt, staring at the sad, broken building and feeling even more sad and broken on the inside. It wasn't their best plan so far, that was for sure.

"I'm getting cold, Kuroo-san," Lev whined, inching closer to Kuroo which Kuroo, Sugawara swore, scowled at. "Then make a fire or something," Kuroo said, grabbing the nearest stick and throwing it at Lev. "There, I already started it for you.""Kuroo," Sugawara said lightly, before there was any escalation between the two. It was cold and dark from the clouds in the sky, and everyone was hungry and tired and wanted to go home.

There was no room for arguments right now.

"I get it, okay guys?" Kuroo said, standing up from where he was and turning around to look at everyone. "This isn't ideal. But I-""Yeah, it was never ideal," Terushima interrupted with a snort. Sugawara looked back at him and gave him a stern look which Terushima shut up at right away.

"Thank you for that," Kuroo muttered sarcastically before clearing his throat. "Look, we're not in the most ideal situation. And it's hard for us in our position, but if we just keep persisting on-""Persisting for what?" Semi asked, shocking everyone with pessimistic back talk. "What are we persisting for, Kuroo? I would love to know because right now all I'm doing is freezing my ass off on dirt. So can you please tell, for Merlin's sake, what am I persisting for?"

Kuroo's mouth visibly went dry, trying to explain what exactly it was their part was, but it was hard. Sugawara knew this well, that's why he didn't say anything, but Kuroo being the leader he was (explaining why him and Daichi were constantly butting heads in competitions) was probably trying to do his best to round up everyone and make sure there was a happy ending to all this. Sugawara wished he could have time to explain that there's more to a story before the happy ending happened.

And let's not get started about how some stories don't even have a happy ending.

"Lo-Look," Kuroo shivered, but Sugawara had a feeling he was getting nervous too. "We want to get home safely-""Are we going home?" A first year asked, Sugawara was thinking of a name but he couldn't remember. "Are we ever going home?"

There were a few mumbles in the crowd, some muttering and some shaking in a cowardly manner, the cold no longer being the problem. "All this because we're muggle born," Kogane muttered, maybe louder than he should have. "It'd just be better if we weren't wizards at all."

At Kogane's comment, Sugawara stood up, looking down at the crowd of students, all bundled up in layers of clothes, some breathing into their cupped hands, most of them turning red and blue. One of the 2nd years looked like they were about to pass out.

"Don't talk like that," Sugawara said, almost angrily, furrowing his eyebrows at Kogane. "And the rest of you. I know you're all thinking it. But that's not the way we should be thinking right now. Not in this situation, not at Hogwarts, not in the real world when shit is just going to keep getting worse so," Sugawara had to take a breath, appreciating the attention he caught from them. "So don't say things like that. There are worse things in the world than a little cold."  
"But it's not just the cold, Sugawara-san," Hinata said quietly, his arms wrapped around his knees, the lower half of his face covered with the collar of his sweater. "This whole time has been-""I don't want to hear it!"

Sugawara had enough with all of the negative talk, all of the complaining and the over pestering. He was tired of everyone thinking that it was just better to go back to the muggle world, everyone giving up on Hogwarts and the headmaster.

"I know what this whole time has been like. Was I not there beside you going through it?" Sugawara's voice rose, watching as a few of them hung their heads down. Bokuto was at the back with the other 1st years consoling them, and usually Sugawara would be doing something similar, but right now, and maybe just for now while Daichi was away, that would be his place. He couldn't help but believe it was something he needed to do.

"You're all thinking it's the end of the world like this, but as muggle borns we're apart of two different worlds, aren't we? Both of them are amazing and filled with all different sort of memories and people we love. So just for a second can all of you just appreciate how far we've come from back then. Just for a second!" Sugawara was panting by the end of his rant, Kuroo's eyes wide looking at him.

And the silenced only thickened. For a good 2 minutes or so, everyone was looking down, including Sugawara. He could see his breath every time he exhaled, could feel his hands numbed as the seconds ticked by.

"He's right," Ennoshita whispered softly, lifting his head up first which made a lot of the others do the same. "We've come a long way from the past. Wizards and muggles weren't allowed to get married. My parents wouldn't have met."  
"Yeah," Bokuto agreed whole-heartedly, flowing the movement further. "Muggle borns weren't even allowed to enter Hogwarts until recently! Could you imagine that? There wouldn't be that many students for that big ass castle!"  
"And they're starting to talk about how the Muggle Relations unit is rising!" Yachi said proudly, most probably having heard that somewhere from a new article over the summer before they left to here. "The world is looking up!"

Sugawara let out a sigh of relief as the gloomed faces started to brighten, a lively bunch emerging from the familiar crowd. They didn't need magic to feel as alive as they did at Hogwarts. Maybe one day he would also remind them it wasn't the magic that made Hogwarts fun - it was the people you meet along your journey.

"Oi! What're you guys doin' out there?"

Before Sugawara could continue on his emotional speech, Ukai was sticking his head out the entrance door, knitting his eyebrows and narrowing his gaze at the group of students at the courtyard of the school, probably looking dumb for sitting in the cold.

"Professor Ukai!" Ukai didn't look as excited or as pleased with the students who saw him, as if he were some sort of angel sent to get them. Which wasn't the case, obviously, Ukai was sent here with them.

"Get your asses back inside before I lock you lot out!"

When was the last time an adult took care of them? Sugawara could say the spoiled answer, talking about how it's been such a long time since a grown up has made him hot chocolate, warming them up with a fire and making sure that they were well kept. But in reality it's only been a solid 3 months and Sugawara was able to take care of himself. He was a bit worried about everyone else, especially Tendou who had turned blue and now was creeping up to the fire Ukai made for them in the middle of the front foyer of the school. Sugawara had to keep pulling him back so that he didn't throw himself into the fire.

"What were you guys doing out there?" Ukai asked, going to each and every student, spelling them up a blanket and wrapping it around them, trying their hardest to warm everyone up. He of course started with the youngest ones.

"Pro-Protest," Tendou shivered, his teeth clattering even more for some reason. "W-We we-were taking a st-stand!""In this weather? It's minus 10 today!" Ukai scolded, now getting to the 4th years, Yachi graciously taking the blanket as she pressed the warm cup of coco on her cheek.

"It was just a bit of an experiment, really," Kuroo laughed it off, but no one laughed with him. He ended up rolling his eyes when Sugawara kicked his leg to spit out the truth. "We heard what they were doing at Hogwarts and we wanted to have a jab at it. So screw me that it didn't work out the way we wanted it to!" Sugawara wasn't exactly happy with that apology, but he would take anything.

"You guys are too young to hold things like that on your own," Ukai tsk'ed, shaking his head. "And who says that?""No one should! All kids have to do is study and be good," he said as he flicked Hinata on the forehead before wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. "If the problems in this world were solved by kids all the time then there would be a lot more problems than now. Besides," Ukai sighed, standing up straight as he watched Tendou slowly making his way back to the fire, deciding that Tendou needed a blanket much quicker than Lev did. 

"It's an adult's job to make _sure_ you kids don't have to do things like this. Look where you are now."

And Sugawara couldn't agree more. They shouldn't have to do this. This wasn't their job, nor was it anyone jobs to do this anyway. He didn't want to grow up and protest for the rest of his life. Being active was different than taking charge.

"Well where you all this time, professor?" Kuroo asked, hopefully not intending to sound as rude as it came off. "We've been here suffering while the Ministry people have been leaving us one by one. Where did you run off too?" Ukai didn't answer for a moment, and Sugawara thought he just didn't want to entertain Kuroo's curiosity. That was until he made it to Ennoshita, patting his head and refilling his hot chocolate since Ennoshita downed it in one gulp.

"They took me away for a bit to another job. Said that the Ministry would handle faculty for the school, so they made me a teacher at a muggle school. A real one," Ukai answered honestly, the students gaping since they obviously didn't expect that. "I thought it was for the best, I guess. And I wasn't going to mess around with the Minister of Magic. I wanted to keep my head! But then the headmaster came to get me and now I'm here for you guys."  
"The headmaster?" Bokuto's voice boomed in the room, eyes wide and popping out of it's sockets. "You saw him?""Uh, yeah," Ukai answered stiffly, as he gave Terushima an extra blanket when he noticed he was just wearing a T-shirt.

"He was the one who told me to come here," Ukai explained. "Because of what happened at Hogwarts there's been a lot of angry parents. The Minister is in a tight place now and headmaster Akaashi is striking while the iron is hot."  
"That's great!" Hinata exclaimed, clutching the blanket around his shoulders. "So we're going home!""Slow down, kid," Ukai chuckled warmly, going over to him and ruffling the little orange tuffs on the top of Hinata's head. "It's not gonna be until at least tomorrow, maybe even later. The Minister is a powerful person, you know? Taking him down is like taking down, I don't know. An iron wall."  
"If you taught us anything, professor," Sugawara smiled softly, looking up at Ukai with a dazed expression.

"A small push with lots of effort could take down the strongest iron wall."

Ukai made a face, a mix of trying not to cry and keeping his composure, going over to Sugawara and patting his head. He gave Sugawara a big blanket that he shared with Tendou so Tendou could double layer, then patted his shoulder.

"You flatter me. I'll remember that next exam."

The whole group of them ended up staying on the floor, warming themselves up for the next half hour or so as professor Ukai tended to everyone easily, making sure that everyone had a nice cup of hot chocolate to drink and refilled accordingly, while reassuring a lot of the younger ones that nothing bad was going to happen and in fact things were going to brighter than ever once they got out.  
Sugawara sort of wondered if he should start being like that too as he got older. But older was such long years away.

"Yaa-chan, you good?" Kuroo asked, the seniors looking up to see Yachi pacing around nervously, like she didn't know where she wanted to go but she wanted to go somewhere. "You look a little frazzled there."  
"Ah-Me? Ah-Uh, no, I-uh," Yachi panicked, turning a dark shade of pink before sitting back down in her original spot beside Hinata. Sugawara felt a bit bad because he understood the overwhelming feeling that was through everyone right now.

He couldn't begin to think about the students that were more soft at heart.

"You scared her," Sugawara murmured softly. "It's your smile.""What's wrong with my smile?" Kuroo hissed, hitting Sugawara in the stomach lightly but Sugawara just reacted with a hard punch to the gut.  
"What the fuck?!"  
"You started it."

Before the two could bicker, Ukai was already squirming his way in between the two, probably having seen them and what they were about to do. Sugawara pursed his lips while Kuroo just grunted out. Ukai offered the two of them some boiled eggs and of course without question they took them.

"Food!" 

Sugawara looked around and like he thought, they weren't the first people Ukai offered to. Hinata was munching on a few pieces of bread while taking bites of boiled egg in between, Terushima and Kogane were sharing what looked like a turkey leg and Yachi and Osahi had a bowl of strawberries between them.

"Sorry it ain't a feast like at Hogwarts."  
"It's more than enough," Sugawara replied quickly, not wanting to seem ungrateful, because really, it was more than enough. It wasn't a buffet or anything, but he felt like he couldn't complain. "You warmed us up and everything. Really, professor, it's quite enough."

There was silence between the three of them for a good solid minute, watching as Bokuto was helping the 1st years get settled down, playing a game with them. Lev looking out the window and Sugawara hated to admit that he looked like a model. Tendou fell asleep a good few minutes ago and his head was right beside the fire - good thing Asahi was a good friend and moved it so he was sleeping on Asahi's lap.

"We weren't trying to be nuisance," Kuroo finally spoke up after what seemed like ultimately a silent interaction. "We were just trying to make a difference.""No, I get that," Ukai sighed, leaning back on his hands. Sugawara just now realized he wasn't in his uniform either (he didn't expect him to be but it was just occurring to him now). Instead he was in an orange hoodie and a regular pair of jeans, even his hair was a bit tossed around messily.

"But like I said. This isn't a kids job to do. As adults our job is to make sure your path is paved rightly."  
"The Minister is an adult though!" Kuroo exclaimed in frustration. "Obviously he wasn't making any right decisions.""Not all adults can be perfect, Kuroo-kun," Ukai said softly, not minding Kuroo's aggrivation surprisingly. Maybe this whole time at this school made Ukai a differently patient person.

"Is age all you adults have for strength?"

It was mumbled in Kuroo's arm but they both heard it, making Sugawara freeze and side-eye Ukai awkwardly. It was so much easier to just accept and keep his mouth shut, but Kuroo just had to say it. Though, Sugawara was also grateful. If being an adult was all it took to have authority in the world, then perhaps he didn't have much to worry about once he graduated from Hogwarts.

"Listen," Ukai started to say, in that adult tone that was both a bit degrading, but they deserved. Sugawara felt a bit weird though, because it's been a while since he heard that tone. He never got scolded except from his parents, but as a student he was relatively good and didn't cause trouble. In fact, he was in the background most of the time until he started making more friends and became much louder.  
So hearing Ukai talking down on them felt...oddly nice.

"I understand where you guys are coming from. Not that many great adults out there doing their best at being an adult. I know sometimes I wonder if I'm even grown up with some of the shit I do. But hear me out," Ukai said, bringing his knees up and resting his forearms on them, not looking at either of them. "Maturity doesn't come with age. It comes with experience. So when you guys go out into the real, adult world, don't think that just because your boss is older than you, or even younger than you, means you should look at them different. It's different because you guys are kids, not adults. And as kids, it's not your jobs to be adults," he looked over at Sugawara and ruffled his hair fondly.

"It's just to be kids."

Sugawara agreed to an extent, and by the looks of it Kuroo was thinking long and hard about it as well. "This isn't a book. Or a movie," Ukai went on with a sigh, taking a cigarette out that Kuroo immediately snatched from his hand just to throw it at the ground and stomp on it multiple times. Ukai kissed his teeth but didn't say anything, probably because he realized it was his fault for trying to smoke around in a room of minors.

"We shouldn't have to rely on you youngsters to save the world or anything when it's adults that make the world. I never heard of a kid who built an empire.""In ancient Mesopotamia there were at least 3." Ukai smacked Kuroo on the back of the head for talking back smart, but Kuroo didn't take it back.

"What I'm trying to say is," Ukai continued on strongly. "Kids need to rely on adults. Not fix their problems. That isn't fair for you guys. You'll be in your thirties and only remember fighting for your lives in your childhood? That doesn't create a good memory for you and as adults you'll expect too much from your kids. The cycle will just continue and we don't want that. So us as adults need to pave a good future for you guys so when you grow up, you'll be ten times better than we'll ever be."

Sugawara wanted to protest and tell Ukai that it was really just one adult that was fucking up the system and managed to convince multiple more adults to join him. That Hogwarts had an abundance of trustworthy, kind adults who had the students in their best interest, and more so, muggle borns. Looking at Ukai, it was obvious that not everyone was like the Minister and it wasn't fair that just because one person is a shitty person means that they represent the whole demographic because if that was the case, then teenagers don't have that great of a reputation either then.

"Oi! Hinata! Don't put that in your mouth!" Ukai shouted, glaring at the other side of the room before getting up with a sigh. "Eh, you guys are good on your own I hope," Ukai dusted off his pants before ruffling both Sugawara's and Kuroo's hair then grinned down at them. 

"Nice talking to you boys. I know you two for sure will be fine adults one day."

Tendou woke up around an hour later, Asahi and Sugawara had careful switched spots just a few minutes earlier so that Asahi could stretch his legs and keep his sister entertained (though her friendship with Yachi was blooming beautifully so it didn't look that necessary anymore). When Tendou woke up the fire was smaller than before so there was less risk for him to get burned as he stretched his limbs, eyes blinking slowly and confused as he looked up at Sugawara.

"SugaSuga," Tendou mumbled, rubbing his face in Sugawara's thigh before groaning. "You smell like eggs."

Sugawara playfully flicked Tendou's head, letting him get up from his laying down position, stretching properly, letting out soft groans when his bones cracked. It was early in the afternoon and surprisingly, everyone looked a lot happier. Perhaps because it was after being fed, or maybe the warm fire that was keeping everyone cozy, but there was a more comforting aura around everyone and Tendou could feel it right when he looked at the group of them.

"Hungry?" Sugawara asked as he gave Tendou some saved boiled eggs. Tendou never looked more pleased, taking it from Sugawara's hands and shoving them in his mouth. Sugawara didn't even see him chew.

"Tomorrow's a full moon," Sugawara noted softly, after a year of being Tendou's friend (arguably one of his closest) he managed to start tracking the full moons to make sure he was ready for anything, from a morning with a missing Tendou or a night of blood shed and tears. Tears and blood from either one of them at that.

"It is," Tendou mused as he finished the eggs, wiping his mouth and clapping the dirt off his hands. "I don't know what I'm going to do," he admitted with a weak laugh, scratching the back of his head in what looked like frustration. "But I can't help it, can I? Guess I'm going to have to sneak out!" It would explain Tendou's sensitivity these days, the full moon approaching and only centimetres from transforming Tendou into his werewolf form that Sugawara secretly thought was super cool.

"I can watch the back for you," Sugawara offered, though it was already agreed between them that he was going to do that regardless. Tendou couldn't do everything by himself during a full moon, it was too much to cover and take care of. Sugawara had to step in and make sure he was doing everything in a way that wouldn't get him caught. Not in a loud, aggressive, feral manner that apparently he's done one too many times before Ushijima found him (a story that Sugawara has yet to hear but really wants to one day).

"I can't believe I ran out of Wolfsbane," Tendou cursed under his breath, only for Sugawara to hear. "Waka-chan brought me enough for a good 4 months. I really need to up the dosage.""You can't do that either though," Sugawara said sternly, shaking his head, knowing exactly what could happen if Tendou took too much Wolfsbane without noticing. Sure, during his full moons it would be fine, but the moment he woke up...  
Well, he wasn't even sure if Tendou would wake up.

"I can't help it! I don't want anyone else finding out about me!"  
"Just pretend you're sick," Sugawara hissed, not wanting to make an argument about it. "This isn't a discussion! This is about your safety and literally your _life_. No one is going to find out about it if we're careful."

Sugawara wasn't sure if he was the right person to say something like this, especially because he's never had to hide his existence before in attempts to stay in a sane place. He's thought about lying to Slytherin house and telling everyone he was a pure blood before, but he was glad he never did.

"You don't get it!" Tendou growled, looking outside at the now dark sky, the sun having set a few hours ago proving their transition into the winter season. "If I keep going on like this I might actually get kicked out of Hogwarts for good. And not just me - my dad! He'll be found out too. I'm not just thinking about this for myself, Sugawara, okay?" Sugawara flinched when his full name was said like that.

"But...you shouldn't have to risk your life for that."  
"Yeah, well, muggle borns shouldn't have to be scared of being sent away for being muggle born but look where we are!"

Sugawara lost track of how the argument escalated into this, but he didn't want to have it burst into a full on fight. It was - and apologies for lack of maturity in the phrase - _that_ time of month for Tendou, so he had to be sensitive and understanding.  
Which was very frustrating, mind, because Tendou was really aggressive and strong and contrary to popular belief, smart. 

"You need some rest, don't you?" Sugawara said softly even though Tendou literally just woke up not too long ago. "Lay down. I'll be here when you wake up.""I don't need that," Tendou said gritting his teeth then wincing, shaking his head and sighing.   
"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that-""It's fine, Tendou," Sugawara chuckled, taking the blanket lazily wrapped around Tendou and covering him again. "Go back to sleep so that when you wake up you can apologize to me properly. I'll be waiting."

So Tendou closed his eyes, surprisingly yet not so shockingly dozing off on Sugawara's lap quickly. Sugawara knew he wasn't an Ushijima, but he was the closest thing Tendou was going to get to him so there wasn't much they could do.

"You know," Sugawara flinched when he heard Bokuto's voice come beside him, quickly calming down when it was just Bokuto. "I haven't heard you talk about Daichi-kun once," Bokuto plopped himself down on the ground next to Sugawara, giving Tendou a little pat on his head and smiled. "You didn't cry, you didn't complain. That's really brave of you. You're really mature, aren't you?"

Sugawara wasn't sure if it was a compliment but he took it as one anyway because it made him feel like he was doing something right. "Makes me kind of sad though," Bokuto pursed his lips, Sugawara didn't reply and let Bokuto continue. "With my circumstances, it makes me wonder if I should have matured a little more too. Instead I went backwards though and took a different approach. Weird, right?" Sugawara didn't know if Bokuto was just talking for the sake of it or felt like Sugawara needed to know this for a reason he would know. Either way, he was glad he could know a little more about Bokuto.

"I think though, I would rather be a kid when I'm a kid and an adult when I'm adult," Bokuto turned to look at Sugawara, smiling widely at him with a soft laugh. "Don't you think?"

Night and slumber came to everyone and instead of heading back to their rooms and separating by gender, they all just fell asleep in the front foyer, most of them laying on top of each other sharing blankets, but some going on their own and curling into a ball, like Terushima. Sugawara fell asleep adjacent to Tendou so Tendou still had his lap for a pillow, but Sugawara was laying down now and using Bokuto's chest as his pillow while Bokuto used Kuroo's arm and Kuroo used Asahi's back. Asahi was the nice one that used his own arm.

"-wara-san."

The whispered voice sent chills down Sugawara's back, not waking up right away. He stirred in his sleep until, the voice not coming back and instead a shake on his shoulder, making Sugawara jolt and open his eyes, vision blurry.

"Sugawara-san." It was a whisper-shout at this point, Sugawara blinking slowly as he looked up, a not so clear little puff of orange in his face allowing him to take a not so wild guess of who was waking him up.

"Hinata?"  
"Sugawara-san!" Hinata grinned at him, blanket wrapped around his tiny shoulders, dragging behind him like a cape and scraping Kuroo's face lightly making him twitch. Sugawara didn't tell him to stop though, too tired to care. "Sugawara-san. I have to go to the bathroom."

It might of been the tiredness, but all Hinata did was blink at him, unsure what to make of the situation and not understanding why Hinata was coming to him for this. Was he asking for permission? Or maybe he was just telling Sugawara in case in the five minutes Hinata was gone one of them would wake up suddenly and panic when they didn't see Hinata, not thinking rationally and assuming he ran away and died.

"So?" Sugawara asked in a groan, hitting his back on Bokuto's chest. "Go then.""No! C-Can you come with me?"

At this, Sugawara's eyes snapped open and he was properly awake despite not wanting to be. If he could guess it was about 12 or 1 AM, the third quarter moon shining bright into the building so he could see the embarrassed yet determined look on Hinata's face. 

"What?" Sugawara asked bluntly, not feeling like going over the usually soft conversation he would be having with Hinata if he was fully awake. The usual 'I'm sorry, did I hear you right?' or 'Hinata, you're a big boy, you can go by yourself now'. Sugawara was way too tired to keep up with Hinata's shenanigans right now and if possible, he'd like to lay his head on Bokuto's surprisingly cuddly chest and fall back asleep. 

"When I go to the bathroom, something bad usually happens," Hinata said in a quiet voice, and even though he answered the question Sugawara just had way more than when this odd conversation started. He stared at Hinata for a few moments, blinking slowly before nodding and getting up carefully so he didn't wake anyone around him up. At this rate Hinata probably wasn't going to give up a bathroom buddy so easily, and Sugawara couldn't imagine too many other people actually joining him.

"Okay. Let's go."

After settling Tendou on Bokuto's chest and freezing when Bokuto mumbled 'pick me up' under his tired breath, Sugawara walked beside Hinata towards the bathroom and waited patiently for him by the sink, looking down at the ground lazily as his tired brain started dawdling off. He didn't make conversation like usual, just the two of them quietly doing what they needed to do. It would've definitely helped Sugawara's moral if the 'bad things' that happened when Hinata came to the bathroom actually happened though.

"Thanks, Sugawara-san," Hinata said softly as he went to wash his hands, letting out a big yawn. "Actually, there was another reason why I wanted to call you here though. I hope you don't mind."

Sugawara raised an eyebrow, now a little more interested in what Hinata was doing. Sugawara stood up, crossing his arms and looked down at him while Hinata patted his hands dry on his pants before reaching into his pocket and taking out a wand. Not just any wand though - Hinata's wand.  
Actually Hinata's wand.

"What?" Sugawara gasped, tempted to snatch the wand out of Hinata's hand but restrained himself so he didn't startle him. "How did you get this?" Sugawara asked urgently, needing to know how because Tendou was able to get it in a complex manner. How did Hinata get it?

"After seeing Tendou-san with his, it made want to get mine back. So I looked hard for the office and I sneaked in," Hinata laughed timidly, pointing to one of the vents in the bathroom and shrugged. "I can fit in there."

Something in Sugawara's chest bubbled, a mix of proudness and a swelling of confusion as to what Hinata actually did to get those wands pre and post wand stealing mission. But that was a question for another time, it seemed.

"I didn't see Sugawara-san's wand though," Hinata said with a bit of disappointment in his voice, and Sugawara knew it was because he wanted to do something for him but failed. Understandably so though. "The Minister might have done something. But don't worry! I know I can get it if-" Sugawara took his wand out from his sweater pocket, making Hinata gape in shock.

"Oh."

After a long, cold, harsh, semi-unnecessary day, Sugawara laughed.

_My dearest Sugawara,_

_This might be my tenth time or so starting this letter. That's a bit lame, isn't it? But Nishinoya is yelling at me that I'm using up the all the parchments so I think I have to be a bit more mindful about what I'm writing._

_Should I bore you with my daily anecdote that you claim to love so much even though even I know how boring they are? I can tell you how my days have been and how my classes are and how I've gotten along with the Slytherin house significantly. I can tell you how I just found out that there were more couples in this school than I thought and how the teachers just pretend they don't see it but they actually know everything. I can tell you how Kageyama has been studying a lot harder ever since Tsukishima started talking to him, and how Yamaguchi looks a bit sick so I call him over every so often but he looks uncomfortable for some reason. I can tell you how Oikawa is weirdly invested in these muggle relation subjects, how his sister came to support and now we're developing faster in a society than ever. I can tell you how the future ahead of us is brighter than ever._

_But I don't want to tell you that either. Because I'm going to be selfish for a little bit, like you tell me to be every so often but for some reason I can't because the thought of putting myself first makes me a bit uneasy. Right now though, perhaps I'll use my precious last piece of parchment to be selfish._

_I miss you so much. In a way that only you can understand. I know that what you're going through is a lot more difficult than my throbbing heart and I know that we can't help the situation right now, but I want to see you so much I think my mind is going insane._

_I wonder what face you're making right now. Because I know you like to see me embarrassed, and I can guarantee you that I'm blushing very hard right now. You want to see that, right? If you came home then you'd be able to see it..._

_Do you see my problem now? I want you to come home but I know it's difficult. And I know there's something much bigger than my missing you, but I thought it must be something said. I can't just run my mouth to other people about this, and I can't keep it in. I know you coming home seems less and less realistic, and I know there is a bigger problem in the world than my loneliness. But even for a moment, I'm enjoying being selfish._

_I have read every letter you wrote me so far. At first, I thought it was some cruel joke someone was pulling on me. The letter Iwaizumi gave me was the only one I clung onto. However, when I finally read one, I recognized your words right away. Only you would say things a certain way, and your penmanship is too unique not to miss. I sort of wish I read them earlier so I could reply to all of them in separate letters, but I'll make do with this._

_I can't help but worry about you. It's in my nature. I'm worried about everyone, but I'm mainly worried about you of course. Not because you can't handle yourself, if anything I'm trusting that you can take care of yourself and everyone else around you better than anyone else I know. What I'm worried about however, is that you would forget me._

_Selfish, right?_

_Not that you won't recognize me when you see me again. But rather, you would forget how much fun it was with me if you ever had fun. Or you would forget how much I love you. Or you would forget what a good team we make. If you could do me one favour, not that you need to, but if you want to do one thing for me while you are away and I'm here waiting like some sort of princess, don't forget. Okay?_

_Hey, Sugawara. This is what love is. Right?_

_I wish I could send you a book, but Koutarou-kun's beak can only hold so much._

_I'll see you soon._

_Thinking of you,_

_Daichi-kun._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah. The last chapter is going to be posted after this...and I will end with my ever so beloved Tendou. I'm very sorry for the inconsistent posting! I would love to go back to my very admirable daily posts, but I unfortunately fell for the whole school scam and now spend my days doing essays and formulas ⊙_ʘ
> 
> I will, however, recommend a fanfic!! :
> 
> |Candied_Apple by The_Busy_Bee - Kuroo and Kenma! Smutty but fluffy! It's just one chapter so it's really good for a quick read. The_Busy_Bee is a great writer so I definitely recommend their fanfictions (I'm pretty sure I recommended them before. I can't remember the name though haha).
> 
> Everyone, stay safe, study hard and be good! Don't be like the Minister >:(
> 
> Oh, and before I forget, what minor ships do you guys like? I would love to know for the third book which background/minor ships and relationships you guys are interested in and want to see more of. I think I might go deeper into Aone/Futakuchi (haven't seen them in a while!) and I think YakuLev someone asked for (can't remember specifically). I would love to hear your guys's opinions!! Thank you everyone!!


	50. Tendou

Date : December 1 1997

Time : 12 PM

Current Location : Front foyer of this god forsaken school

Status : Mission - Minister Faiji, Accomplished; Wolsfbane, Failed

_**BREAKING NEWS : The Mad Minister - More Mad Than Ever?  
** _ _An Article Written by : Kageyama Miwa, Edited and Published by : Oikawa Tomoyou_

 _Until recently Minister Faiji has said to be an admirable man, powerful by nature and skilled by education. To have someone in such a high position, perhaps this was never a bad thing. However, recently discovered but has been in the works for several_ **years** _during Minister Faiji's position, has been unprecedentedly discriminating against muggle born and half blood wizards. Headmaster Akaashi - official Headmaster of Hogwarts for over a decade now - has collected enough evidence to prove this claim._

 _Work forces has been reported to have rejected several candidates solely based on their blood status, quickly being dismissed from the positions referenced or applied for once their background was figured out. According to said sources, despite being recommended to employers and having exceptional education background comparing to candidates also applying for employment, not even an interview was considered for no apparent reason. This has officially violated the_ Rights To Wizarding, Employment and Life, _Code 8:1 column b, stating that 'there should be no prejudice against those of different families, backgrounds or culture, nor centaur nor giant, nor pixie nor elf'. Muggle born, though not written down in stone, is included in this clause._

_Minister Faiji's antics, however, did not seem to stop at work places and employment. At the beginning of the school year, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with other wizarding schools such as Beauxbatons Academny of Magic and Durmstrang Institution, were subjugated to separation of muggle born (half bloods included) and purebloods amongst both the staff and students in order to protect everyone by reducing the magical presence in a condensed area. It was not found out until late October that Minister Faiji has been sending these students to an unknown location at a less than mediocre school. The living situation was impossible for students and there was little to no supervision, no magical border protecting them from possible hunters that were said to be after wizards these days, and the magic curriculum was completely ignore above all._

_Not only has Minister Faiji neglected and failed to protect the wizards in our community, but also has allegedly lied and over exaggerated to society about the nature of muggles and the muggle world. For the past 5 years, there have been several articles and reports claiming that muggles have been abusing, kidnapping and murdering various magical creatures, wizards and witches.  
_

_It has been confirmed that this every word, story and report has been false._

_Minister Faiji has used Memory Charms, Memory Spells and Potions to tamper with memories of muggles and wizards, using Illusions and Mists to meddle with the looks of situations, all to frame and blame muggles for inside jobs the Minister himself as administered. Muggles are still not completely innocent as of yet, however several charges are now being lifted and missing muggles are being found slowly as investigations continue._

_Now former Minister Faiji is being held on trial with possible consequences of being sent to Azkaban. His trial will possibly last for more than week, and further information is yet to be confirmed or published._

"Where'd you get that newspaper?" Sugawara asked Kuroo, the next morning as he caught the Gryffindor reading the papers next to window for some light. "Prof. Ukai gave it to me to read. I think he picked it up when he went to buy cigarettes."

Tendou has been up for a while now, maybe since 4 AM, but has been laying down and pretending to be asleep for close to 3 hours. Kuroo thought he woke up first and got to talk to professor Ukai about trying to get back to Hogwarts, so that was exciting. But Tendou couldn't care less when his body was jittering and his mind was both exhausted and energetic more than ever.

Winter full moons were so powerful. They lasted longer and shined brighter than ever and because it was winter, turning back into a naked human was always so cold and uncomfortable. Sometimes Tendou would just be laying in a bloody snow bed!

So no, ideally Tendou wouldn't be having a full moon panic without Ushijima (without his parents is what Tendou really wants to say) but hey, he had Sugawara. Who could get better than Sugawara (besides Ushijima and his parents).

"When'd you wake up?" Sugawara asked in a whisper, but Tendou could hear everything despite them being a few metres away. "Like, 30 minutes ago, I guess," Kuroo responded, Tendou could hear the shuffling of the two, the newspaper waving in their hands and crumpling. "I couldn't go back to sleep though. Bokuto kept drooling on me." Sugawara laughed lightly and probably nodded or something when there was just silence.

The silence was Tendou's cue to pretend to wake up, stretching with that weird strained moan, his back cracking and limbs pulling way above his head. He turned to see Sugawara and Tendou by the window like how he imagined. Kuroo had the newspaper still in hand, Sugawara holding the other end of it, while they shared a blanket covering both their legs. They could be jerking each other off and Tendou wouldn't know.  
Actually he would know. He was just trying to think of anything else besides his urge to eat a deer.

"You okay, Tendou?" Sugawara asked in a concerned voice, most probably because he actually knew what Tendou was going through and not just because Tendou's face and neck were paler than snow and his lips were flowing with blood making it look purple-ish blue. Was this what full moons were like without Wolfsbane? Or was it because he's been taking Wolfsbane for so long that he didn't know how to handle full moons without it?

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Tendou insisted with a smile, but of course, like any full moon, Tendou was scared. On the inside though. Internally, he was screaming. No Wolfsbane, no Ushijima and no way he could transform in the middle of the night without someone smelling something a little fishy, Tendou was in the mood to scream about how unfair life was being right now. He didn't even want to go home at this point. He just wanted to transform in peace.

"I'm hungry though," Tendou yawned, gasping when he tried turning around to walk but was stopped when Bokuto was right behind him, eyes lazily closed, blanket wrapped tightly around his arms and his hair flat out so it covered his eyes. He looked tired but was walking towards them, stopping right in front of Tendou before his eye cracked open slightly. That was when Bokuto smiled at him.

"My pillow left me," Bokuto mumbled tiredly, letting out a big yawn before rubbing his eyes and sitting down beside Kuroo. "What are you guys talking about?" Before anyone could answer, Bokuto's eyes went over to the news paper Kuroo was holding, eyes widening when he saw the headline which Tendou actually hasn't looked at yet. He was too busy hearing the stupid bee exactly 64 degrees from his left ear and approximately 10 metres from the building, buzzing away contently in the cold winds of December with what sounded like a lily blowing in the breeze. So no, Tendou did _not_ have time to read Kuroo's newspaper headline.

"Woah," Bokuto gasped quietly, scrunching the newspaper up in his hands and squinting at it, like he was trying so hard to comprehend what was written on the page, which Tendou would have believed in heartbeat. 

"The Minister was caught!"

He said it so loud, Lev flinched awake, Tendou jolted in surprise and Hinata sprung up, eyes wide and bloodshot as if he was actually up all night.   
"What?"  
"What did you say, Bokuto-san?"  
"Repeat that!"

Bokuto got up from where he sat, now completely wide awake with an even brighter face (how could someone be so energetic first thing after waking up? Tendou would have to watch him sleep next time). "Everyone, listen up!" Everyone that was easy to wake up with a scream managed to twitch themselves awake slowly, groaning when the light outside hit their eyes and the cold air from the ground made them uncomfortable once they were aware of it.

"Okay, okay," Bokuto went ahead when everyone seemed to be pretty awake and most of them waiting for Bokuto to just say what he wanted to. "'Now former Minister Faiji is being held on trial with possible consequences of being sent to Azkaban-""What is he talking about?" Terushima asked lazily, scratching his belly as he yawned. Semi threw a pillow at him and told him to shut up before Bokuto continued.  
"'His trial will possibly last for more than week, and further information is yet to be confirmed or published.' Guys, do you know what this means?!"

Right when Bokuto shouted his question, Ukai was coming in the room with a big box in his arms, a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and a small smile on his face. Even he looked pretty enthusiastic for someone who woke up early in the morning.

"Everyone," Ukai said with a gruff voice, putting the box down and taking the cigarette out of his mouth. "Pack up," he nodded, not able to contain a grin. "We're going back to Hogwarts."

Everyone was ecstatic. There was an excited buzz through the room, smiles everywhere like it was Christmas morning. No one even packed that much, just throwing their things in the bags they brought with them in the beginning of September. Most of them just threw in their uniforms, figuring that the stench of their clothes wouldn't be all that pleasant to walk around with. Besides, they would be wearing their uniforms again which a lot of them surprisingly missed.

"I can't wait to take a real shower," Lev whined, finishing packing up right away, but wore most of his clothes anyway. Two sweaters and a jacket plus a hat that frayed his hair out from under it which wasn't supposed to look as good as it did. "I wanna smell good before I see Yaku-san again!"

"Do you think we should just throw these out now?" Kuroo asked, holding up books and sheets that the teachers from the classes at the beginning of the year gave them, almost all the papers blank with only names written on it. "I kinda feel bad leaving garbage."  
"Leave it," Sugawara hissed, slamming the papers down from his hand. "So they have evidence we were actually here! And who cares if they have to hire a cleaning crew."

Asahi was the only one who had more than he needed, stuffing a bunch of stuff in a backpack that intrigued the question from Bokuto what he was packing. "Oh, I thought it would be nice to bring Noya-kun a few souvenirs!" Asahi answered with a bashful smile, following with the question of 'what the fuck kind of souvenirs are you bringing for him?'. "I made little puppets from some shirts that were starting to get tight on me!" Asahi said with an excited expression, taking out a little finger puppet with cute dark brown eyes sewn on it with some fluffy brown hair with a yellow streak on the centre and another finger puppet with longer brown hair.  
"'Hi Noya-kun, how are you today?' 'I'm good Asahi-san. How are you?' Aren't they cute?" Tendou thought they were.

Yes, everyone was more than ready to leave this grungy, underwhelming, gross place behind. Everyone, looked like it anyway - except for Tendou.

He didn't even bother to hide his reluctance as he slowed his packing down, only throwing a few shirts in his duffle bag, the rest of his clothes splaying on the dirty ground that Sugawara had to pick up and fold for him. Tendou grumbled annoyingly every step he took, glared at the people who got in his way and sighed loudly every time looked up. It didn't take long for people to stop talking to him altogether.

It wasn't necessarily because Tendou didn't want to go home. It was the commute home that he was dreading.

"We can't Apparate back. There's too many of you guys and just one of me," Ukai had said as he handed out everyone's train tickets. "Don't lose these! I know at least one of you will and I'll make sure you'll be in for a real lesson once we get back if you do." Tendou knew he was avoiding the 'I'll leave you here' threat because no one deserved to be scared shitless like that when a joyous moment like this was happening.

But if Tendou remembered correctly - and he was pretty sure he did - the travel from Hogwarts to this god forsaken place was about 6, maybe 7 hours considering train and bus times and walking and delays because Hinata couldn't help wandering off every five minutes or Bokuto couldn't read the signs fast enough to figure out where he was going. So maybe 8 hours.  
If it was past noon now, and it wasn't like they were leaving immediately, Tendou predicted the absolute earliest time they would arrive at Hogwarts was 9 PM if everything ran smoothly according to plan.

And knowing them, nothing _ever_ runs smoothly nor according to plan.

"What are you going to do about tonight?" Sugawara asked, patting Tendou's back when he saw Tendou's straining face staring down at the jar of what used to contain his Wolfsbane. Tendou sighed and shook his head.

"Who knows," he laughed, chortled and short before whimpering and falling to the ground. Tendou wasn't weak right now. No, he had the exact opposite problem and it was driving him mad. Maybe if something set Tendou off he would have enough strength to throw the whole building on his shoulder and toss it back to Hogwarts himself and still have time to hunt. Good thing the Minister wasn't there anymore to piss him off though.

"You should really tell someone," Sugawara suggested weakly, but they both knew the argument this was going to lead to. "Just professor Ukai. You know how chill and understanding he is-""You don't know people then, SugaSuga," Tendou hissed. "This isn't the same as being a muggle born in a room of Slytherins. I'm _illegal_." Tendou didn't even let the build up of the conversation happen, getting straight to the point because this conversation has played a good few times in their past when Tendou was desperate. This was the first time, however, Sugawara was dealing with Tendou's full moons completely alone.  
And it was obvious he didn't know how to handle it well enough yet.

If Ushijima was here, what would he do? This was probably what Sugawara was thinking.

Probably bribe him with sex which Sugawara couldn't do for obvious reasons.

"Well, we have to think of something before night actually comes," Sugawara insisted, not liking the feeling of just leaving Tendou to think of a way on his own. This was one thing Tendou mildly appreciated about Sugawara without thinking much of it - he always said 'we'.

"What're you two talkin' about?" Bokuto obnoxiously joined himself in their huddle, a bright smile on his face as he was already packed and ready to leave. Most probably excited to see Akaashi, similarly like everyone else was excited to see someone they've been missing.

"Should I throw this sweater out? It's getting small," Tendou covered up quickly, lying like second nature and holding up a perfectly fitting sweater in front of him. "I think I'm gonna grow again. My back's been hurting."  
"Ah, can I have it then?" Bokuto asked with wide eyes, smiling at the bright green cloth in front of him that Tendou knew for a fact someone like Akaashi would not approve of. "It looks warm!" Tendou didn't mind giving away a few clothes here and there if it was for his sanity.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Ukai asked around the room loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Our train is gonna leave in an hour. We still have to walk to the station."

"Can we grab breakfast on the way?" Terushima asked the question everyone was wondering. "I'm hungry.""You have money?" Kuroo asked, hitting the top of his head and making Terushima turn and glare at him.  
"Yeah," Terushima scoffed, crossing his arms. "I do."  
"Good for you," Kuroo said with a grin before pinching his cheeks hard. "Don't get cocky now, okay? Remember. We're all on the same level as of today."

"That's enough," Ukai said disapprovingly as he witnessed a start of quarrel, breaking up Terushima and Kuroo before anything could escalate. "If you two are going to keep that up then we're sleeping on the train tonight!"  
"Better than sleeping here."

Ukai didn't comment on the last bit of back talk, just reminding everyone to meet outside so Ukai could do a head count before they left officially, absolutely no one wanting to spend an extra second in this place. 

"Ah, seriously," Sugawara shook his head as he put his backpack on, tightening the straps on his shoulders and smiling. "We have to think of something to do about tonight, don't we, Tendou?" There was an odd shiver going down Tendou's spine when he saw Sugawara's genuine strained look, feeling like, yeah, he did have to think of something. Then again though, wasn't this his problem? Why was Sugawara so adamant about helping? Just because they were friends? 

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then you really did rub off on me."

At first, Tendou gave Sugawara an odd look, a bit confused and annoyed that he was being left behind in the thinking process. It wasn't until an idea popped in his head, his eyes widening in realization and mouth ajar. Sugawara smiled wider at him, then turned to walk off to Bokuto and Kuroo and Hinata, all excited to leave and discussing about the first things they were going to do once they were back at Hogwarts.

It left Tendou there, pondering and wondering if he was bad influence for Sugawara.

"Are we missing someone?" 

Everyone was looking around, eyes wide in panic when Ukai was counting the heads again, most of them trying to quiet each other so he didn't lose count. "Don't forget Shouyou! Here," Lev said as he took Hinata by the under arms and lifted him up from the ground which earned various yellings and curses from Hinata.   
"He's too short to notice, don't you think?" Hinata screamed, flailing his arms around and tried kicking Lev by doing a backwards kicking motion. "Put me down, Lev! Put me down!" Hinata squirmed but Lev's grip seemed too strong for him to fight back.

"Oh come on Lev, I don't think that's-"  
"My bad, you're right. I couldn't see Shouyou," Ukai said dryly with a nod. "Alright, let's go everyone!"

Hinata gaped with frustration, glaring hard at Lev when he was put down. "I'm not even that short!""I know. But the point is that you _are_ short."

Tendou, along with the rest of the seniors, were at the back to make sure that everyone was staying together and not wandering off on their own. Kuroo had to stop Kogane a few times from accidentally joining another family by accident, Bokuto had to restrain himself from shoplifting a few sweets when they passed by a bakery, and Tendou was pretty sure Asahi has gasped more times than actually took a breath.  
Since when were the five of them this responsible?

"I'm still hungry," Bokuto whispered between them, side eyeing the home restaurants they seemed to be passing by nonstop. "You think professor Ukai will let us stop? I still have enough money for at least an orange juice."  
"We're almost at the station," Kuroo said uncertainly. "Just wait till we get there. The selling stands there are probably cheaper anyway."

This was where Tendou was stuck. He told everyone as of this year that he was a half blood because there was no other story he could follow anymore by being sent away. So everyone thought he was half muggle and assumed he knew at least a bit of muggle context.

The thing was, Tendou didn't. Besides the experiences and knowledge he got from Sugawara, experiencing the muggle world was much different than being told things by it. It was coincidence and luck honestly, that Tendou decided to visit the muggle world over the summer and had some backbone knowledge. He could have played the Semi card too, and told people he was moved to the wizarding world so he didn't know much. But then there would be even more questions and that was not on the list of things Tendou wanted.

"Are we at least almost to the station?" Asahi asked, looking up to see if he could find some sort of signs indicating where they were. Tendou had no clue, and from the way Sugawara was squinting at everything it looked like he didn't know either. It seemed that the muggle world was a much bigger place than Tendou was led on to believe because if there were places Sugawara didn't even know and this place was his home, then that meant he didn't have time to walk around everywhere. Which might or might not be a problem to Tendou in the future.

"We are," Kuroo said with a nod. "I remember a bit from when we came here. I tried paying attention, but to be honest," Kuroo sighed, also looking up at a few of the signs that were showing up, none of them helpful and just saying things like 'Next Gas Station - 50 km ahead!'. Whatever a 'gas station' was. "Everything looks the same no matter how far we walk."

It seemed that the Minister really did intend to put these kids in the middle of nowhere because Tendou saw no street lights, no major big buildings, nothing that was screaming the city life. It was a bit similar to where Tendou was from, so there was a calming feeling to it, but he still would have appreciated if there was more opportunity to get lost. Until they were much closer to Hogwarts, that is.

Soon after though, after Hinata's complaining about his feet, Lev's head bumping into multiple tree branches, and Asahi offering to carry Yachi which he was rejected very cutely by Yachi screaming 'Wh-What if Nishinoya-san comes?', they finally saw their first car drive by.  
A car, Tendou thought was very convenient if you didn't have a broom. The problem with it, however, was how loud it was. His ears twitched when it started turning on the road, Kuroo asking a very loud, 'what's wrong with you?' when Tendou whimpered and covered his ears up when the engine roared right against his ear drum. Music was playing as well - some R&B that Tendou appreciated - and chatter about last night's show. Laughter filled his mind as he jittered with every word echoing in his mind.

Tendou collapsed when the car drove past them.

"Shit!" Bokuto caught him in his arms, making Tendou feel pathetic and frail. They didn't even reach the city yet - what more if the train was passing by? "Tendou, you okay?""Mm-" Tendou felt his chest tightening up as Bokuto started waving his hand in his face. He was tempted to slap it out of the way but was scared he would end up slapping too hard and accidentally hurt Bokuto.

"Tendou, come on."  
"Maybe it's getting too cold for him," Tendou heard Ukai's voice saying and all of a sudden he was transferred from Bokuto's arms to Ukai's back, perfectly able to walk but ended up being carried. "We should eat."

The quiet cheering from Terushima and Kogane was loud and clear in Tendou's ear, but they probably didn't want to showcase their happiness that Tendou's collapsing lead to some proper food. 

So Ukai walked and walked, Tendou on his back as Tendou pretended to be passed out because he didn't want to look dumb by being the one kid startled by a simple car passing by. That, and it was getting harder to walk every time the wind whispered loudly in his ear every time it blew. Ukai's breathing was getting heavier, and around then Tendou was about to 'wake up' and offer to walk again, but before he knew it he was being placed to sit down in a much warmer climate. Cracking his eye open, he realized that all of them were at a restaurant. 

It was a small, home owned one, so Tendou guessed they weren't quite in the city yet. What a bummer. 

"I know we're a lot," he heard Ukai say with a soft, nervous chuckle. "But we can eat outside too. We don't mind, we just need something filling. Please."

If all adults begged like that, Tendou thought, maybe the world would be a more humble place.

"His eyes are opening. Tendou? Tendou man, you okay?" Tendou was blinking his eyes open and the first thing he saw was an overly concerned Bokuto kneeling in front of him with what looked like a wet cloth in his hands. "Tendou?"

What shocked Tendou the most was the genuine concern in Bokuto's voice and face. How he pressed his palm against Tendou's forehead and tsk'ed, muttering about how he was 'heating up' and the way he dabbed the warm towel on Tendou's face. It wasn't necessarily a new feeling, Ushijima has done this to him before and Sugawara didn't hesitate touching him either when it was needed.  
What was shocking was that it was _Bokuto_. Didn't Bokuto hide under tables when he was sad or something?

"Tendou? Say something," Bokuto said softly, moving Tendou's collar lower and unzipping one of the jackets he was wearing, probably to let him breath a bit better even though Tendou was breathing perfectly fine. "Can you? Can you still talk?"

Tendou managed to snap out of his daze and nod, pushing away Bokuto's hand from his neck and letting out a small laugh. "Eh, what's up with you? So mature all of a sudden," Tendou cleared his throat, feeling a weird warmth in his stomach. "It's weird."   
Bokuto's face went red as he threw the wet towel at Tendou's face, making him flinch and catch it when it dropped.

"Well, you're fucking welcome, Tendou. Ugh!"

There it was. Watching Bokuto storming off with his arms crossed and a pout on his face reminded Tendou of times when Bokuto would get a spell wrong in class and start whining about how it was hard. Then, those times he did remember how he did a spell correctly, he would forget it immediately and start whining again. It wasn't until Akaashi came to pick him up after class that all of a sudden Bokuto's mood was lifted up and Tendou wanted to puke with the amount of sugar that he could taste in his mouth.

"You alright, kid?" Ukai came over with a bowl of soup, handing it to Tendou with a spoon. "You gave all of us a real scare back there. Are you feeling alright?"

Tendou wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell Ukai that if he wanted to, he could kill him right where he stood. That he felt like he could run around the world a hundred times and shoot himself to the moon and back in one breath, all while saving his beloved in the process. He could hear every fire being ignited in the back kitchen, every flush of the toilet and the fact that he knew this restaurant was run by a centaur because he could hear the weight of the hooves in the underground rooms hidden beneath them. And with the way Ukai was looking at him expectantly, he was probably waiting for an answer like that too.

"I get sick easily," Tendou lied with a soft laugh. "Sorry to worry you. Next time, you can just drop me on the ground. I'll find my way home."

From his face, it looked like Ukai didn't like that joke.

"You know," Ukai started saying, sitting beside Tendou. To avoid conversation, Tendou started sipping on the soup on his spoon. "I remember you during your first year of Hogwarts. You were one of the first names I remembered." Tendou wanted to answer with something snarky like 'because of my behaviour?', but they both knew Tendou was a quiet kid in his first year back then. It wasn't like he wanted to be a quiet kid. Obviously that wasn't who he was.  
It was who he was told to be though.

"It was because of your hair."

Tendou ended up snorting. His first year, he was still outgrowing his bowl cut he had before, but didn't have the knowledge of what to do so it was just his thinking process. So for a whole year, Tendou had straight bangs that he had to admit he was proud of and thought suited him, but he liked his spiked up hair too. Is that really what made him stand out though? A bowl cut? Didn't all kids have a similar hair style?

"It was bright red. So in my face," Ukai laughed, looking back up at Tendou's hair, like he was reminiscing. "I mean, it still is. But it really stood out back then, and I started wondering if you were half something, you know? Because of how much it stood out."

Tendou starting shifting in his seat, feeling like this was going to get sappy real soon. "And then you got sick in maybe the third week? For a first year, it wasn't uncommon to get home sick. You weren't in class for a whole week though. You probably don't remember because you were asleep, but I tried visiting you along with a lot of other professors to see how you were doing." Tendou didn't remember, in fact. Because he tried to not be conscious for most of his full moon.

"I thought it was just a bit of first year jitters," Ukai continued. "But then you got sick in October too. Then November. December, January. Every month, for one whole week, you were in the hospital wing. I thought you were just cutting class because you didn't like how we were teaching. You didn't talk to a lot of people either, so it was hard for me to ask what the situation was. Even your parents were hard to get ahold of."

Tendou opened his mouth, about to explain to Ukai that it wasn't intentional, because Ukai wasn't a dumb adults like a lot of others. But then Tendou realized - Ukai said 'thought'.

"Professor-""I don't like meddling in people's business. It's not my business, really. And you're old enough that I don't have to give you a talk about honesty. Your life is your life and my life is mine. What you do in your free time, if you pretend to be sick, what gender you like. Who am I to tell you how to live, yeah?" Tendou gulped, the feeling of a cliche talk between teacher and student long gone and now, he felt like a child.

"But what I want to tell you, Satori-kun," Tendou's hand twitched, the hot soup spilling on his hand but it was cooled enough that Tendou didn't even feel it. Someone normal would argue that Tendou's hand was turning red.

"Is that no matter what age you are, carrying a burden on your shoulders alone is going to be heavy. So allow a few people to carry it with you," Ukai patted the top of his head, offering a small grin. 

"Alright?"

Tendou's whole body froze, and maybe it was because he could hear another car roaring in the distance, but unlike before, he didn't collapse. He managed to move his head, looking up at Ukai, and for some reason his vision was blurring. Drops of water were dripping in his soup, plopping down and splashing. His cheeks were all of a sudden wet and the whole room was just merging into a blob of colour.  
The only thing that was keeping his eyes open was Ukai's soft hand petting his hair.

"Oh," Tendou laughed, looking down at his soup that has barely been eaten despite his stomach growling this whole time. "I'm crying. Aren't I?"

When was the last time Tendou cried? He wanted to say recently, for people believed Tendou was an emotional person. And he was in his own way. But when was the last time he actually let it out?

"It's okay," Ukai sighed. "I won't look."

Before Ukai even finished his sentence, Tendou was sobbing.

Tendou couldn't remember too much after that other than he didn't eat as much as he wanted to. Ukai told him he would buy him food on the train to Hogwarts, but Tendou doubted he could last that long.  
If his predictions were correct, Tendou was either going to suffer a lot the train ride home by ripping up the train to pieces, or alternatively, rip up everyone on the train itself.

God, he hoped it was the former.

"Everyone has their ticket?" Ukai shouted amongst the crowd of students, a variation of yeses rippling through as they all took them out so they could get them stamped before getting on the train. Tendou was holding tightly onto his as they started to bump to the entrance, touching shoulders with strangers and feeling weird exhales on the back of his neck which was terrifying because Tendou was tall.

"It smells," Tendou gulped, covering his mouth and closing his eyes. "Horrifying."

Which wasn't a lie, it problem did smell funny to everyone else too. The gas from the train engines mixed with the scents of everyone's sweat, perfumes, colognes and whatever lunches they had that day, mixed all together was going to have a pungency to it. But to everyone else, it wasn't a bit deal either. It was life, and they would continue to go on with it because it just wasn't problem for them.

"Tendou," Sugawara had to make Tendou lean on him as they approached the entrance to the train, tsk'ing as Tendou tried pushing himself off, but shamefully proving that standing wasn't an option right now. Tendou couldn't even keep his eyes open for long.

"Is Tendou alright?" Kuroo asked aggressively, taking Tendou on the other side and helping Sugawara lift him, but it was more Tendou's feet dragging behind him. "He's been having a hard time."  
"It's just that season. He's probably going to have a fever by the time we're back at Howarts."

Thank Sugawara for thinking of a lie on the spot to cover him up. Maybe he was a bad influence on Sugawara. He would have to apologize to Daichi for that one day.

"Guys, 'm fine," Tendou groaned, trying to stand on his own and this time Kuroo and Sugawara actually let him try. Tendou's eyes opened widely, grinning down at both of them and ruffling their hair. "Thanks. I'm just bit tired." Kuroo snorted at that, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at him. 

"You're telling me that while you slept almost 12 hours straight last night?" Tendou managed to let out a small laugh before remembering something briefly and automatically turning around to see Bokuto and Asahi discussing something together. Instinctively, Tendou went up to them, wrapping his arm around Bokuto's neck and startling the both of them, but Tendou just needed Bokuto.

"Sorry, Asahi-kun. Mind if I borrow Koutarou-kun for a bit?" Asahi smiled and nodded timidly - Tendou realized Asahi was showing off his finger puppets to Bokuto again - before walking off to Semi and asking him if he had his train ticket ready.

"Listen, Koutarou-kun-""Apology accepted!" Bokuto said happily, giving Tendou a bear hug while laughing. "I'm just glad that you're all better now!"

Tendou wasn't sure what the feeling inside of his chest and stomach was as he saw someone see such relief for Tendou's well being. It wasn't the same with Ushijima, because he could blatantly say that was butterflies in his stomach, making him excited and wanted it to continue on for the rest of his life. Ushijima being his lover, to have him concerned and doting on Tendou was expected, wasn't it? So whenever Ushijima would baby him it was more of a joyous occasion and Tendou basked in it for as long as possible despite knowing he could get this treatment any time.  
So why was it different with Bokuto?

Tendou realized soon after - it was a foreign feeling.

"Come on. The train rides are the best part!"

The train was very similar to the actual, magical train to Hogwarts that Tendou always dreaded because sitting still wasn't a strength of his. Even though it was typically four people per cart, Bokuto and him managed to convince the six of them - Sugawara, Kuroo, Asahi and Semi included - to fit together. Unlike the actual Hogwarts train, however, there was nothing enchanting or interesting about this place. Tendou just felt claustrophobic.

"I've never seen Japan like this before!" Semi said in awe, Kuroo, Bokuto, Asahi and Sugawara graciously giving Tendou and Semi the window seats so they could enjoy the scenery and have fresh air when they needed it. "It's different."

Tendou eyed Semi up and down before turning to the window and watching as the train started, picking up it's pace after a few minutes and all of a sudden the colours were blurring together, mixing in a weird green, grey blue mixture. The city wasn't as lively today, Sugawara explaining how Mondays usually weren't. Tendou didn't understand what the day of the week had to do with the business of the place.

"What do you guys usually do in your free time?" Semi asked suddenly, turning his head to the rest of them. "I mean, in the muggle world. Like, during the holidays and stuff. What do you guys end up doing if you don't have magic?"  
"Keep it down," Kuroo hissed, kicking Semi lightly on the shin when the 'm' word slipped out. "Sorry."

It took them all a bit to think about it before Asahi answered first. "I guess, regular things. Part time job, dates.""Eh? Dates with who?" Bokuto asked, raising his eyebrows. "Noya?""Yeah," Asahi said with a nod. "He comes here to visit me. We just end up going out for walks though. I'm scared he might do something accidentally if I bring him to a restaurant or something, you know."  
"I do the same thing," Sugawara said with an agreeing nod. "Just go out and play. Nothing special.""We play sports," Kuroo added on. "Watch them too." Bokuto was the last to pitch in with a loud 'EXERCISE!' that Semi just smiled poorly at.

"What about you, Tendou?" Semi asked, looking over at Tendou who was dazed and looking out the train window, watching the buildings turn into houses. "Hm?" Tendou looked over at Semi who looked like he was waiting for an answer. "I asked what do you do in your free time. In this world, I mean."

Tendou had to think of something good, something exciting, to keep up with his exciting self and be equally outrageous. In his actual free time though, what did Tendou really do? If he thought about what it was he did during breaks, holidays, weekends, times he had to wait for Ushijima to be done with his stupid prefects meeting, what was it that Tendou was actually doing this whole time?

"I study," Tendou answered simply, looking back at the window again. Semi looked like he was going to remark with something snarky, but Kuroo stopped him quickly with a kick.

"Oh," Semi said simply, clearing his throat. Tendou was absolutely not going to apologize for the awkward silence he created.

1 hour till night fall. Tendou was jittering like crazy, leg shaking and teeth clattering. Everyone passed it off as Tendou being cold, Bokuto and Asahi both taking out spare sweaters to lend to him and even though Tendou appreciated it, that wasn't what he needed.

Didn't people know what deodorant was?

"I'm gonna go the washroom real quick," Sugawara said suddenly as he stood up, Tendou not thinking too much of it as he eyed the moon that was approaching, still not clearly in the sky but with the way the sun was setting, he could practically feel the hairs standing on the back of his neck growing. 

"I'm getting hungry again," Bokuto scowled, digging into his pockets and fishing out coins. Even though Tendou wasn't sure how muggle currencies worked, the three coins in Bokuto's hand didn't look like much.   
"Here," Asahi said, getting a bill out of his own pocket. "This should be enough for a sandwich at least.""Ah, Asahi, you're a life saver!" Bokuto grinned, getting up from his seat and opening the cart door. "If I have extra I'll be sure to get you something too.""Asshat," Kuroo stood up and kicked the back of Bokuto's leg. "I'm coming with. I don't want you eating anything on your way back and cheaping out on Asahi."  
"You have no faith in me!"  
"Damn straight I don't."

Semi also got up, stretching his arms and groaning softly when his bones cracked. "Can I come with? I'm curious if the rest of the train actually looks like the rest of the, uh, you-know-what train." Semi said with a smile. "It's fun being a tourist!"  
"I think I'll check on the others actually," Asahi said standing up as well, looking over at Tendou. "What about you, Satori-kun?"

Tendou had the option of going out and taking a bit of a walk to cool his mind, but he knew the minute he stepped out and hear something, smelt something, see something off, it would set him in outrage.

"I'm okay," he got out with a smile, snuggling up with the multiple sweaters everyone gave to him. "I'll just be here. Don't worry, I'm not going to steal anyone's things.""Well now I'm even more worried."

So Tendou and his anxiety were left alone in the train cart. The sun was almost gone, losing itself in the horizon and Tendou's whole body felt on fire. His head was going hazy, indicating a feral state beginning to bubble inside of Tendou. No sense was there to mandate him once he transformed and the past 2 years of reliance on Wolfsbane didn't help when the Wolfsbane wasn't here anymore.  
Maybe he should have listened to Ushijima when he told him it was a bad idea to take it.

"Shit," Tendou groaned, getting up but ended up collapsing back down in his seat when he felt dizzy. He knew Terushima was able to buy broccoli soup but gave the rest to Kogane when it got cold. He knew Ennoshita fell asleep but now was mumbling different spells under his breath so Lev had to help close his mouth before he accidentally turned a muggle into a cat by accident. He knew Sugawara wasn't actually in the bathroom right now.

All in a split second, Tendou knew everything happening in the world. Yet at the same time, he wasn't sure who was opening the train cart door right now.

"Get up," Sugawara's voice was urgent, taking Tendou by the arm and lifting him. All of a sudden Tendou's attention was focused elsewhere, Sugawara not helping him walk, rather dragging him through the halls of the train. The train's track screeched so loud that Tendou thought he was going to go deaf, then the sudden stopped abruptly making him fall on one of the doors and disrupting a couple in the middle of a makeout session. Serves them right.

"Come on," Sugawara pulled him to the nearest door exit and Tendou was able to see Ukai get out of his cart and look around. His eyes went to Sugawara and Tendou right away, panicking and worried.

"What are you guys-"" _Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to be experiencing some severe technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience._ "

The train doors opened and Tendou saw where they were properly for the first time. Outside was an open field, not a forest necessarily but there were a lot of trees and bushes. It was probably a park and if he went in he could probably find a trail and walk on it till he had his mind off things. If the full moon was just a little less powerful then maybe he could have - too bad it was December and the full moon has never been stronger.

"Fuck-Suga-" Tendou groaned, shaking his head as he gripped his hair tightly, the cold air hitting his face and making all the heat he was feeling just a few seconds disappear with the wind. His breathing was getting heavy, the whole train was shaking so obnoxiously despite literally stopping in it's tracks. Tendou moaned loudly, holding his stomach and trying so hard, concentrating and holding it in as much as he could.

"Go," Sugawara said softly, pushing Tendou towards the exit. "Go now."

Tendou's eyes widened, looking up at Sugawara, who's figure right now was lumping into a glob that Tendou could have easily mistaken for a fox. "What-What did you do?" Tendou managed to ask, his feet stepping back slowly as Sugawara pushed him further and further. 

"Doesn't matter. The train will be here in the morning," Sugawara insisted like a promise, pushing Tendou out completely. Tendou could hear a screaming Hinata asking in fear 'Sugawara-san, what are you doing?'. Sugawara didn't answer though.

"Suga-"  
" _Go._ "

Tendou's hour was ending. His jaw started hurting so he knew the fangs of his teeth were growing. Perfect for a feasting night, and he had a feeling it was going to be a long one. He looked up at Sugawara as he gave the final push. Now Tendou was pathetically standing outside, clutching his stomach like he was about to vomit but the reality was he was holding in everything he had to make sure he didn't transform in front of a train of his classmates and muggles. What was Sugawara thinking?

"Co-Come with me," Tendou said quickly, trying to get back on the train but Sugawara hesitated, gulping before shaking his head. "You'll regret it in the morning. Remember?" Sugawara whispered, about to lift his pant leg up but Tendou just grimaced, turning around and shaking his head.

"Forget it!" Tendou growled. His hour was ticking into minutes and he had no one coming with him into the night. If he were to leave the train, would it actually be there in the morning? Or was Sugawara just saying that? In a normal mental state, perhaps Tendou would believe him without a second thought. But Tendou wasn't in a normal mental state - he wasn't even sure he was Tendou right now.

"What-"

Tendou heard Kuroo's voice, but Bokuto's footsteps were loud and Semi's clothes were loosely blowing in the breeze while Asahi was panting so loud he was practically breathing in Tendou's ear.

"Tendou, go!" Sugawara screamed, making Tendou flinch. He didn't want to go though. No matter how he thought about it, he didn't want to go. He knew he had to. That it was the smart decision and that it was safer to leave for everyone, not just for himself. All the muggles on the train were probably noticing a poor, cold, shivering teenager just standing outside on his own, feeling bad for him right now, wondering what horrid thing he did to get him to get kicked off the train. Probably a delinquent? Or maybe he didn't have a ticket?

Tendou could rip them to shreds if he wanted to.

"Sugawara-"  
"Tendou, you have to go!" Sugawara was yelling at this point. If he really wanted Tendou to leave then why wouldn't he just close the door already? "Sugawara, what's wrong with you?""Tendou, get out of here! Go!"

Tendou didn't want to leave. Tendou didn't want to go. Tendou didn't want to, but he had to. He _needed_ to or else...or else there wouldn't be much to come back to when the night was over. He knew he shouldn't be this hesitant. And maybe if this situation were to be happening three, four years ago, Tendou would have been long gone. It was weird because you'd think that now, Tendou would be much more adamant on leaving everyone so that he could _protect_ them. He knew that it was risky staying here and transforming right in front of the brightest full moon of the year. He knew that he could hurt people, murder people, and the next morning he wouldn't remember a thing. Tendou knew this, yes. He knew it, he was raised with this, he's studied and experienced a lot for someone who wasn't even a full adult yet. Tendou knew.

But never before has Tendou hesitated like this before. Because for once in his life, Tendou had friends who actually cared about where he was going and why. For once in his life, there were people waiting for him to come back.

For once in his life, Tendou didn't want to be alone.

"Tendou, _go_!"

Tendou heard Sugawara practically screeching as the full moon was making it's finale appearance. Tendou's hour was coming to a close and it was either everyone found out what he was or spend the rest of their lives wondering if they were right.

"I c-c-" Tendou didn't realize he was sobbing until he fell on his knees, groaning when he felt his back growing, his hands getting bigger and turning into paws. Before he knew it he couldn't talk because words weren't a thing to him anymore and his eyes could see the worms in the ground that were wiggling around on the surface and digging holes back inside. Tendou was mid transformation before he felt a hand gripping his still somewhat human arm.

"Let's go."

Tendou's eyes widened when he felt a tug on his arm, pulling him - guiding him - into the little park-forest that Sugawara probably intended for Tendou to hide in. Tendou's vision was both getting worse and better, so the figure that was pulling him was clumping with everything else and Tendou could have hunted them down, bitten them for god's sake. But for some reason, Tendou didn't.

"Come on," he heard the voice say as it pushed Tendou against a tree, taking out a wand from their pocket and holding it up. Whatever they were doing, it wasn't affecting Tendou so he assumed he was helping them. It didn't stop Tendou from trying to hide himself though.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on," the voice kept muttering under their breath, letting out frustrated sighs here and there until a stream of blue light came out and all of a sudden there was a barrier around them. Invisible to the naked eye, but Tendou could see it clearly.

They were making it invisible.

"Tendou-san-"

Tendou couldn't hold it anymore. His clothes shredded from on him, his throat let out the loudest growl he's ever had, and once his eyes laid on the bright full moon itself, he howled louder than ever before.

Tendou finally transformed. And this time, he wasn't completely alone.

Hogwarts wasn't any different when they returned. It wasn't the same either though.

"Is he alright?"  
"I think so. He's been out cold for a good three days."  
"Can't blame him though. God, if it weren't for Hinata-"  
"Shh, I think he's waking up."

Tendou stirred in his half conscious state, unable to decipher who's voice was who's, but he knew that he wasn't alone in the room. What day was it? Where was he? He couldn't smell anything and his eyes refused to open on their own.

"Has anyone told Wakatoshi-kun yet?"  
"They did. You didn't see him here this morning? He stayed awake all night. I think he's watering his garden now."  
"That means he's getting Tendou a few more flowers. Like he needs them."  
"He's not waking up? I swear he was waking up."

Tendou outed Bokuto's voice by the loudness of it. Only he would be practically screaming while an ill person was laying in front of him trying to rest. But it wasn't like anyone was trying to stop him either. So it was probably like this for the past three days Tendou apparently has been unconscious that they've been visiting and eventually just stopped telling Bokuto to be quieter. They probably didn't even think Tendou was going to wake up soon.

"I feel bad. I've never seen Ushijima so stressed out before."  
"Well I would be stressed too if my boyfriend was knocked out first thing after coming out from what was basically a prison. I bet Ushijima's been beating himself up too. Not doing anything or something like that."  
"You think Wakatoshi-kun cried? I don't mean to be mean, but I think it'd be...interesting to see that."  
"Tendou moved! He's waking up!"

Tendou didn't want to see Ushijima sad, so a selfish part of himself didn't want to open his eyes. At the same time, he knew eventually he would have to wake up so he could reassure Ushijima that he was fine and wouldn't run off carelessly like that again. 

What did happen though? Tendou's mind was hazy and couldn't remember much. All he remembered was how cold it was outside.

"Tendou?"  
"Tendou man, you good?"  
"Move! Give him some air, Bokuto, you dumbass."  
"Look, he's waking up!"

Tendou started waking up slowly, fluttering his eyes open. When his blurry vision started to clear up he noticed he had bandages wrapped around both calves and ankles that he didn't feel at first. From the waist down it was pretty number and his stomach felt bloated. What did his face look like then if this was the rest of his body? His hand went to his cheek and he noticed right away more bandages taped on.

"Tendou!" Bokuto cheered excitedly, kneeling beside the hospital bed. The hospital bed that Tendou has practically lived in these past 6 years as a Hogwarts student and has pretty much haunted him. Now, it was a nice reminder of how many people actually cared for Tendou.

"We thought you were dead!"  
"Don't say it like that," Kuroo hissed, hitting the back of Bokuto's head before kneeling down beside him and looking up at Tendou with that odd cat-like grin of his. "You took quite a hit, you know? How are you feeling?"

Tendou wasn't sure how to answer because honestly, he did feel fine. It was just his body was wrapped in bandages. 

"You didn't wake up for a few days. We were really worried about you, Tendou," Sugawara said, putting a plate of chocolate pudding on Tendou's lap but held the spoon in his own hand and going beside Tendou to feed him. "Say 'ah'."

The fourth person who Tendou didn't expect to see, was a very intrigued and awkward Asahi, holding a tray of medicines and bandages in his hand. It looked like he was assigned to tend to Tendou which was surprising because he assumed it would be Ushijima to do that job.

Ushiijma.

"Where's Waka-chan-" Tendou's voice cracked and croaked as he sat up but Sugawara pushed him down almost immediately. "Calm down," Sugawara said softly, shaking his head. "He's coming, alright? He's probably on his way right now."  
"No," Tendou shook his head, looking around to see if he could find a clock. His neck was stiff too, he noticed.

"He needs to know I'm okay. He-He's worried-""I know," Kuroo added on quietly, "but you can't get up yet. We gotta wait." Tendou didn't like the sound of that. If Ushijima has been here before though, that meant he was coming back though. Right?

"Calm down, Tendou. Your week isn't up yet."

It wasn't until Sugawara said that that Tendou's breathing started to steady, now remembering a bit more of the last night he was conscious. He transformed, killed a few animals, and then blacked out. It wasn't that different than other full moons, really. In fact, his full moon wasn't even over yet. That meant he would experience that again, wouldn't he? Tendou couldn't just calm down like how Sugawara said.

"Thank you-" Tendou choked out, not being able to express himself in any other way. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you-" Tendou coughed out, Bokuto taking a towel and holding it to his mouth as the tears started streaming down his face. Was this what adolescence was? Tendou hated it so much.

"Shh," Kuroo cooed, patting Tendou's back. "It's fine.""Thank you-" Tendou gasped, wiping his eyes and rubbing them hard, his wrist twisted hard but the pain in his hand didn't measure to the aching in his heart. 

"Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank-" Tendou didn't even remember why he started crying in the first place.

After a few minutes, Tendou finally calmed down. Asahi came with his tray of medical supplies and started to heal Tendou's wrist, tsk'ing when it turned out Tendou fractured it even more. Not even a few minutes after calmly waking up Tendou got hurt again, Tendou thought he heard Asahi say but if he did say it then Tendou wasn't supposed to hear it. There was silence between all of them for a good few minutes, no one discussing anything and just sitting in their own thoughts but they were probably all thinking the same thing.

Did everyone know Tendou's real identity now?

Like a hit of thunder, the hospital doors bursted up. Tendou flinched, feeling like he was shot through the head but his heart was still racing as he looked over at the door to see who it was coming in, charging for him and before he knew it warm arms were surrounding him in the tightest, most uncomfortable hug he's been in and he didn't want to let go for free of falling somewhere he wouldn't be able to crawl out of. 

Before he knew it, Tendou was crying again.

"Waka-chan!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's the end now, isn't it? Of the second book, that is. I just want to take the time to thank everyone who has been apart of this until now. Every comment, kudos and hit - I appreciate it all! If you enjoyed it this far, then I thank you with all my heart and I encourage you to also stand for something your passionate about no matter how tiring, taxing or unrealistic it may seem. Passion and love definitely wins!
> 
> That being said, I would love for everyone to check these websites out if you have the time. Just for a few seconds even , it would mean a lot :
> 
> | https://dotherightthing.carrd.co/  
> | https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/yemen-crisis  
> | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAZgTNBLSLA  
> | https://issuesintheworld.carrd.co/  
> | https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/  
> | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCn72iXO9s
> 
> Life is hard. I can't deny that much. But I firmly believe working together and working hard, loving one another and looking to the future as something bright and wonderful is a strong way to continue on. It's impossible to do things like this alone.
> 
> On a much lighter note, I just want to end with a bit of a teaser for the third story. What to expect really, hah! :
> 
> ~Much more fluff and happy moments :D  
> ~It's basically a dock  
> ~Because of all the ships that are going to sail  
> ~IwaOi does not deserve angst, I don't even know why every fanfic they're so sad towards them. I am determined to stop this  
> ~The Miya twins are probably one of the few realistic siblings I've seen in any media content (do I a favourite? We'll see)  
> ~Kita won my heart  
> ~I promise Tendou is okay. Please do not worry about him too much, he's perfectly fine (but thank you for worrying if you were)  
> ~Jealous lovers? Only if it's in a cute way XD  
> ~I believe in AsaNoya supremacy  
> ~Terushima also won my heart  
> ~Aone is in fact my favourite character though, I swear  
> ~Are we going too fast? No such thing!  
> ~Teenagers are weird, man. All of them, there are no exceptions  
> ~Underrated ships need to become overrated or else I'll scream my head off one day  
> ~Yeah, there's going to be a lot of love in the next one  
> ~Because love is all we need
> 
> Again, thank you so, so, so, so much if you have read thus far. It makes my heart warm thinking about how much support I've had and been given and I just can't thank you guys enough. Please stay safe, fight for what's right and enjoy your lives in passion and love.  
> I'll see you guys in the next story ^3^


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